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Protests force AP minister to abandon English

Noisy protests from the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh assembly forced Transport Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to switch over to Telugu while making a statement on the recent bus accident at Chinthala village in which 12 people were killed.

Rao was half way through with his prepared statement in English, when Communist Party of India-Marxist deputy floor leader N Raghav Reddy took objection to the minister making a statement in the house in English.

Other Opposition groups soon joined him and alleged that there was discrepancy in the minister's statement, circulated to the members in Telugu.

"We are in the assembly of Andhra Pradesh, where at least 80 per cent of the people do not know anything but Telugu. Are you speaking only for the officials and is the government being run for the officials?'' the veteran CPI-M member was heard saying.

"You say you are the Telugu Desam Party, but you don't speak in Telugu,'' Reddy said. Congress member M Kondanda Reddy too joined him, demanding that the minister read his statement in Telugu.

UNI

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