Parliamentary behaviour at a new low as anti-Telangana protests get ugly

NEW DELHI: There was enough warning that the House would be in for a tumultuous Thursday. Sabbam Hari, MP from Anakapalli, had threatened to set himself on fire or poison himself, but neither manner of protest came to pass. Shiva Prasad, MP from Chitoor, had threatened to let loose the reptiles in the Lok Sabha. But Andhra MPs managed to bring parliamentary behaviour to a new low as they tried their best to prevent the government from introducing the Telangana Bill.

As Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde rose to introduce the Bill, L Rajagopal launched himself into action. Recently expelled from the Congress party, Rajagopal yanked out a canister of pepper spray and began liberally administering it to his fellow members. He then went on to smash a glass panel on the secretary general’s table. Meanwhile, Venugopal Reddy of the TDP bustled his way to the well of the house, yanked out a microphone from the aforementioned secretary general’s table and snatched at papers on Speaker Meira Kumar’s podium.

Somebody yelled that Reddy had a knife, which saw a group of his colleagues rushing to disarm him. Reddy later denied he had a knife – he was merely brandishing the microphone, he said. As this was going on, several MPs had rushed to Rajagopal and punches started getting thrown about.