Punishment harsh but necessary: KCR

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday termed the punishment handed over to the Congress members as harsh, but necessary to protect the dignity of the House. 

In a brief intervention after the House adopted the motion to expel and suspend the Congress MLAs from the House, the Chief Minister thanked Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary for the decision adopted by the House. Lashing out at the Congress legislators, KCR said his government has zero tolerance for those who try to create anarchy inside as well as outside of the House.  

Accusing the Congress of resorting to cheap politics, KCR said, “It is unfortunate. I never expected it would come to this. We are ready to discuss any issue and conduct the House for any number of days to give ample opportunity for detailed discussions,” he said.     

He said the Congress members’ justification that they didn’t mean to attack the Chairman of the Council, but the Governor is further deplorable. For, the President and the Governor hold the constitutional positions and address the joint sitting of Parliament and the State Legislature. 

The Congress members could discuss for any length of time and even stage protests during the motion of thanks to the Governor’s speech. But, what they have done was condemnable, he added. 

Terming such intolerance is not good in politics, he said the Speaker had taken precautionary measures following the government sharing information about the Congress planned protests on Monday. More serious incidents might have taken place had the precautions were not taken by the Speaker, he pointed out.

KCR said it is derogatory on the part of the Congress members accusing Swamy Goud of enacting a drama. He also accused the Congress of spreading rumors about his health and his government for last four years.
Supporting the line of the ruling party, AIMM Floor Leader, Akbaruddin Owaisi called the incidents of Monday a ‘black day’ for democracy and for the House. 

He stressed on the need for lawmakers to act responsibly and uphold the dignity and decorum of the House. The unfortunate incidents that took place in the House had proved that the Congress members had crossed all the limits. 

However, he asked the Speaker to reconsider suspension of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) K Jana Reddy as he was not among those who tried to mob the Governor and even helplessly tried to prevent other members. 

BJP leader G Kishan Reddy also demanded reconsideration of the suspension of the LoP. However, the Chief Minister refused the same, saying, he has a lot of respect towards the LoP.