The first day of Parliament, after a recess in the Budget Session, began on a rough note, with protests outside by the Trinamool Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress Party.
TDP MP N. Siva Prasad, dressed as Lord Krishna and flanked by his colleagues, continued his protests for Special Category status for Andhra Pradesh. In the earlier part of the session, Mr. Siva Prasad was dressed as a tantrik during the protests.
Explaining his choice of outfit, Mr. Prasad said like Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata who warned the Kauravas of the ill effects of the impending war and pleaded with them to settle with the Pandavas by giving them five villages, he too was warning the Narendra Modi government to settle the dispute.
“I had dressed like Lord Krishna at the time of bifurcation too and had pleaded with then Congress President Sonia Gandhi. I want to warn Mr. Modi that he should not mistake Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s patience for inefficiency. If he gets angry then BJP will have to face ire of entire Andhra Pradesh,” Mr Prasad said.
MPs of the YSR Congress too, staged protests outside Parliament. Five YSR Congress MPs, along with some MLAs, were detained by the Delhi Police when they tried to march towards the Parliament complex to protest against the Centre’s denial of Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh. Scores of party cadres squatted in front of the police van to thwart attempts to detain their leaders.
Naidu blamed
Speaking to PTI, before being taken by the police, Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, party MP, said, “We all trusted Chandrababu Naidu, but the interest he showed in increasing the number of seats in the State Assembly, did not reflect in getting the special status for the State.”
Another detained MP, Vijay Sai Reddy, said, “We took all permissions but despite that we are being detained. Even in 2015, our party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy held a similar protest at the same venue for the same cause. Such attempts to detain us will not deter us. We will continue this."
Trinamool protest
Meanwhile, 33 Trinamool Congress MPs from both houses of Parliament sat on dharna in front of the Gandhi statue demanding a investigation into the bank scams.
A TDP delegation met Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal leaders, while another delegation, led by Union Minister Y.S. Chowdary, met BJP president Amit Shah.
