Hyderabad, March 28: Andhra Pradesh minister and Y.S.R. Reddy’s younger brother Vivekananda allegedly shoved two Telugu Desam MLAs and almost hit them before being stopped by colleagues in the Assembly today.
Agriculture minister Vivekananda was angry with some Desam members holding placards calling the late Y.S.R. Reddy’s ministry a “gang of thieves” and their slogans against alleged land scams during the former chief minister’s reign.
Vivekananda eventually apologised, as did chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, when the House reconvened late this evening after a five-hour adjournment sparked by the fracas. Earlier in the day, Vivekananda had snubbed the chief minister when he had asked him to express regret. He was learnt to have offered to resign from the ministry, instead, than face such an embarrassment.
The brawl came at the fag end of the ongoing budget session that has hardly seen a disruption-free day since it began on February 17. The troubles have mainly been because of protests and boycotts over Telangana.
Vivekananda is a member of the legislative council and his term as a member ends tomorrow, the last day of the session. Some members of the council, which is the state legislature’s Upper House, retire every two years.
The scrap began when, enraged by the anti-YSR placards and the slogans, Vivekananda crossed over to the Opposition benches and got into an altercation with Desam deputy leader in the Assembly, G.M.K. Naidu, and MLA Prabhakar.
In the heated exchange, the minister is alleged to have used unparliamentary language. Then, according to some MLAs, the minister snatched a placard from Prabhakar, tore it into pieces and flung the bits of paper into the face of the stunned legislator.
Some Desam members rushed in and stopped the minister from attacking the duo. Some Congress MLAs loyal to YSR’s son Jaganmohan came to Vivekananda’s support.
Deputy speaker Nadendla Manohar adjourned the House in a huff. Vivekananda’s cabinet colleague, minorities minister Ahmadullah, and BJP floor leader G. Kishan Reddy pacified both groups.
Later, Desam members staged a dharna outside the Speaker’s chamber demanding action against the minister. They also wanted footage of Reddy’s alleged attack made public.
