New Delhi, April 6: Members of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Friday staged a ‘dharna’ in the chamber of the Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan for seeking a special category status for Andhra Pradesh. Reports by ANI inform that Mahajan was not present at the time. The pictures of the TDP members inside the Speaker’s chambers have gone viral on social media.

In the last month, the TDP had requested Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to hold an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. The party also alleged that the protests by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and AIADMK in the two Houses were “planted”. “We are sad over the manner in which both the houses are conducted,” TDP’s Rajya Sabha MP Y S Chowdary said.

TDP MPs stage a 'dharna' in Lok Sabha speaker's chambers: See Pics

TDP MPs hold dharna inside Lok Sabha speaker's chamber (Photo Credits: ANI)
TDP MP lies down inside Lok Sabha speaker's chamber (Photo Credits: ANI)
TDP MPs hold dharna inside Lok Sabha speaker's chamber (Photo Credits: ANI)

The TDP withdrew its ministers from the central government and later walked out of the NDA alleging that the Centre had failed to fulfil its “promise” of special category status to Andhra. “Our party floor leader met the LS Speaker today and suggested various avenues but have not received any positive response. “Though our party does not want suspensions, the Speaker has the option to suspend those MPs who are protesting in the Well,” Chowdary said, alleging that protests inside Parliament by TRS and AIADMK “were planted to ensure no-confidence motion (notice) is not accepted”.

The move comes soon after 5 Lok Sabha MPs from the YS Rajasekhar Reddy Congress Party tendered their resignations to the Speaker on Friday over NDA Government’s Failure to Grant Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh. The MPs who resigned are YV Subbareddy, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, YS Avinash Reddy, V Varaprasad Rao and PV Mithun Reddy. To recall, YSRCP has given notices for no-confidence motion 12 times and not even once it was taken up for discussion, the leaders claimed.

It must be noted that the TDP MPs have created ruckus outside Parliament demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. The party will also move a no-confidence motion against the Modi government over the injustice meted out to the state, an official communique said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2018 04:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).