Telangana bill not taken up in Rajya Sabha, high drama in House

NEW DELHI: The much anticipated Telangana bill was not taken up in Rajya Sabha, which witnessed high drama and repeated adjournments all through the day today.

The House saw Secretary General Shumsher K Sheriff being heckled by a TDP member C M Ramesh, who was trying to snatch papers from him related to Telangana bill.

Ramesh and his party colleague, who are opposing the bill, stormed the Well as soon as the House met at noon after the first adjournment on the issue.

There was heckling and even the spectacles of Sheriff were about to fall as Ramesh tried to forcibly take the papers.

Angry at the behaviour of the member, Kurien said, "This is very unfortunate. The Chair should not be attacked. Keep your hands off. What you are doing is very unfortunate."

In the post-lunch sitting four bills were passed but the Telangana bill was not taken up as the House was adjourned for the day amid noisy scenes.

As Minister K S Rao rose to speak on the Telangana bill, Kurien informed him that it was not being taken up now.

"I thank the members for their cooperation...let's call it a day," he said and adjourned the House till tomorrow.

All the while, three members including Congress member K V P Ramchandra Rao were standing near the Chair carrying placard demanding united Andhra Pradesh.

Several members from BJP and Left parties demanded proper discussion on the bill that aims to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemandhra. Some other issues were also raised leading to commotion and disturbances because of which the House had to be adjourned repeatedly.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla assured the House the government too was in favour of a discussion on the bill before its passage.

Earlier, Rao earned the wrath of Kurien who said he belonged to Lok Sabha and should behave or leave the Upper House. The observation came when Rao was causing disturbances while opposing the Telangana bill, passed by Lok Sabha yesterday amid din, chaos and an unprecedented black out of televison coverage.

Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley invoked rules to say the Congress minister, being member of Lok Sabha, cannot disturb the Upper House through protests.