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As many as 70 opposition members, including some floor leaders, were on Wednesday suspended for the day from the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly for obstructing the proceedings demanding rollback of the latest power tariff hike for domestic and agricultural consumers.
Trouble started as soon as the assembly commenced proceedings at 0830 hours.
Raising a hue and cry over the issue for the second consecutive day, opposition members belonging to the Congress, CPI-M, Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen and Telangana Rashtra Samithi demanded a rollback and rushed towards the Speaker's podium.
Repeated appeals by Speaker K Pratibha Bharathi and Legislative Affairs Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu to the agitated members to resume their seats failed to make any impact.
Ramakrishnudu was shouted down when he appealed to the members to allow the day's listed agenda to be taken up.
Leader of the Opposition Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, who was allowed to speak, reiterated the demand of all the parties, including the BJP, which is an ally of the ruling Telugu Desam Party.
Even as he was speaking, his mike broke down prompting Congress members to rush to the well of the House in protest.
Amidst uproarious scenes, Ramakrishnudu moved the motion for suspension of the opposition members for the day, which was upheld by the Speaker who asked the opposition MLAs to leave the House.
However, marshals had to be called in to physically remove the members from the hall.
Soon after, the suspended members, including 62 from the Congress, three from the MIM, two each from the CPI-M and TRS and one from the CPI-ML, staged a dharna marched outside Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's chambers in the assembly complex.
The opposition had raised the issue on Tuesday too. The noisy debate, which lasted over 10 hours, was marred by acrimonious exchanges between opposition members and the treasury benches.
The opposition lashed out at the Naidu regime for hiking the power tariff five times in the last seven years.
Defending the hike, Naidu claimed that it was only 'marginal' compared to the hefty increases in other states, including those ruled by the Congress and the BJP.
He said that the increase worked out to a mere 0.7 per cent and would yield an additional revenue of Rs 455 million to the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (AP Transco).
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