Published Sep 22, 2023 | 7:53 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2023 | 7:53 PM
N Balakrishna.
TDP legislator and film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna continued his antics in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for the second day on Friday, 22 September, blowing a whistle as the other TDP members were creating a ruckus to protest the arrest of Opposition leader and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu at Nandyal on 9 September.
While Balakrishna twirled his moustache and slapped his thigh, daring the YSRCP members for a showdown on Thursday, he kept blowing a whistle in the Assembly, causing a different kind of disturbance in the House.
Encouraged by his acts, another member of the TDP, Gadde Ramamohan, followed suit.
The Speaker asked Balakrishna not to create a disturbance in the House to which the latter did not comply. The Speaker then asked the marshals to seize the whistles from the TDP members. When they followed his instructions, the TDP members did not cooperate with them.
Balakrishna blowing whistle inside the Assembly. (Screengrab)
Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu, who “provoked” Balakrishna to twirl his moustache on Thursday, advised the actor to realise that the Assembly was not the right place for him to resort to cheap tricks. He said Balakrishna was blowing the whistle which was used on streets and that the chair should not tolerate such behaviour.
As soon as the House met on Friday morning, it witnessed noisy scenes, with the TDP members arguing with the Speaker over the YSRCP government arresting Naidu on trumped-up charges while others shot videos of the proceedings, which is against the rules.
Taking exception to the unruly behaviour, Speaker Tammineni Sitaram suspended TDP members K Atchen Naidu and B Ashok till the end of the present session of the Assembly.
Finance and Legislative Affairs minister Buggana Rajendranath alleged that the TDP members were deliberately trying to disrupt the Assembly proceedings and warned them against doing so.
The TDP members, disregarding the warnings of the minister and other YSRCP members, surrounded the Speaker’s chair and kept raising slogans.
Later, in the Assembly, the Speaker allowed a debate on the skill development scam. Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath said that the MoU for the skill development project was signed without any date on it.
He said ₹371 crore released to the AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) in 2015-16 was transferred to DesignTech, which he said was a shell company.
The company was set up only after signing the MoU and one Ganta Subba Rao was brought and made the head of the corporation.
Buggana Rajendranath said that the government had come up with a cock and bull story that the partner company, Siemens, would invest ₹3,000 crore in the project and pointed out that the globally known company’s name was used to siphon off public funds.
Others who spoke on the scam included former minister Perni Nani.
In the Legislative Council, too, the TDP members stalled proceedings by raising slogans against the YSRCP government when the chairman disallowed an adjournment motion on a debate on Naidu’s arrest.
The chairman asked the TDP members to come in a different form for him to allow a debate and that he could not allow an adjournment motion.
When the TDP members appeared to be in no mood to resume their seats, the chairman adjourned the House briefly. When the House met after the break, on the instructions of the chairman, marshals were deployed to prevent the TDP members from rushing to the podium. Even then, the TDP members kept raising slogans.
