YSRC disrupts AP Assembly

The opposition YSR Congress today disrupted the Andhra Pradesh Assembly proceedings, demanding that an adjournment motion it moved on Agri Gold firm's alleged payments default issue be taken up for immediate discussion. The House was adjourned twice as the opposition members rushed into the well and raised slogans seeking "justice" for the Agri Gold payments default case victims. The state government, which is conducting a probe by the Crime Investigation Department into Agri Gold's affairs, has already attached several prime properties of the firm after it allegedly defaulted on payments to its depositors. The amount that Agri Gold owes its depositors is said to be a few thousand crores. A case is also currently pending in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad. The YSRC moved an adjournment motion in the Assembly and sought an immediate discussion on the plight of Agri Gold victims, but Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao disallowed it. "Any adjournment motion could be taken up only after the Question Hour and the Zero Hour, as agreed upon in the Business Advisory Committee meeting. You can't insist on a discussion by disrupting the Question Hour," the Speaker told the YSRC members and took up Question Hour. Youth Affairs Minister K Atchannaidu, government Chief Whip Kalva Srinivasulu, BJP floor leader P Vishnu Kumar Raju and other members of TDP appealed to the agitating opposition members to let the House run. But the YSRC MLAs remained adamant and stayed put in the well of the House creating a din. The Speaker adjourned the proceedings for five minutes. However, as the situation in the House did not change when it reassembled, he adjourned it the second time for ten minutes.