Andhra opposition disrupts governor's address

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The budget session of the Andhra Pradesh state legislature began on Monday on a stormy note with the opposition disrupting the governor's address to the joint sitting of the assembly and the council and staging a noisy walkout.

Legislators of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) tore copies of Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan's address and threw the pieces at him. Security personnel surrounding Narasimhan had a tough time protecting him.

Raising slogans of 'Jai Telangana', the TRS members tried to advance towards the governor and disrupt his speech. Amid pandemonium, the governor rushed through his address.

The legislators of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also disrupted the governor's address, raising slogans against the government's failure to tackle problems of farmers and other sections of people.

Normalcy returned after 15 minutes as the entire opposition walked out of the house. This provided a respite to the governor, who completed his 30-minute address without any further disruptions.

The TDP, TRS, the CPI and the BJP staged protests at media point in the assembly premises. They alleged that people's issues were ignored in the governor's address.

The TRS legislators said they walked out on the governor's address as there was no mention of Telangana.

"We will not allow the house to run unless a resolution for formation of a Telangana state is passed in the house," TRS leader E. Rajender said.

Tight security arrangements were made inside the house in view of last year's unprecedented incidents during the governor's address when members of the TRS and the TDP had stormed the podium, heckled the governor and uprooted the mikes.

The assembly and the governor's security personnel formed a strong cordon around him this time to keep the protesting legislators at bay.

Earlier, TRS legislators and also those of the TDP from the Telangana region separately paid their respects to the martyrs of Telangana at the memorial in front of the assembly building.