Congress not responsible for mayhem in Lok Sabha: Lakshmi

GUNTUR: Union minister and Congress leader Panabaka Lakshmi, who hails from Seemandhra region, today said her party was not responsible for the unruly scenes in Lok Sabha on Thursday amid introduction of Telangana Bill.

"Congress was not responsible for the incidents that happened in Parliament," Lakshmi told reporters here.

She was responding to a query on the pandemonium in Lower House, wherein MPs, mostly from Congress and from both sides of the regional divide exchanged fisticuffs to stall the passage of the bill formalising the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana.

The Union Minister of State for Textiles and Petroleum also dismissed as incorrect the reports that the bill was not introduced in the House.

"I was the direct witness to the introduction of the bill by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. The claims being made by Opposition leaders against bringing of the bill are incorrect," said Lakshmi, who represents Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency.

Lakshmi also accused BJP of shifting gears on the issue, saying the BJP which had vowed to support Telangana bill is now "trying to stall its passage".