Telangana: KT Rama Rao, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka spar over ‘humiliation’

HYDERABAD: IT minister KT Rama Rao was involved in a heated argument with CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in the assembly during the resolution on former PM PV Narasimha Rao. While Vikramarka said the Congress members were being humiliated and insulted in the House, KTR said no member was humiliating the Congress but it was the people who had rejected them at the hustings.
KTR asked the CLP leader to apologise to speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy when Vikramarka said the chair was humiliating him by not giving him an opportunity to speak on the resolution seeking Bharat Ratna for Rao. “You cannot pass such remarks at the chair. You were given time to speak for one minute as per your party’s strength in the House. You withdraw your comments against the speaker. He did not humiliate you, but people have,” KTR told the CLP leader while addressing the House.
Earlier, expressing serious displeasure over Srinivas Reddy’s prodding, Vikramarka said: “We are speaking in honor of the former prime minister but we are not given an opportunity.”
As he was speaking, Srivivas Reddy asked him to conclude his speech immediately as he was going beyond the stipulated time of one minute. Vikramarka said Rao was a great philosopher and a visionary like Chanakya. “Rao was instrumental in setting up institutions like National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Commission for Women (NCW), and providing reservations for physically challenged.” He also said that the National Backward Development Corporation (NBDC) was incorporated during Rao’s regime.
Vikramarka also hailed Rao’s ‘look east’ policy. “Because of his vision, India’s commercial ties with several Asian countries had improved and bonding with Israel had also improved,” he said.
TRS members who also spoke on the resolution, however, pooh-poohed his claims saying the Congress did not show any respect to Rao. “The grand old party did not even allow his last rites to be performed in a honorable manner in Delhi and rushed his body to Hyderabad,” the MLAs complained.