Why Mock Assembly When 22A Issue Is Being Debated in House, Asks Congress MLA

Congress MLA G. Madhusudan Reddy on Sunday criticised the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for holding a parallel “mock Assembly” at Telangana Bhavan while the 22A land and revenue issue was being debated in the Telangana Legislative Assembly.

Reddy described the BRS move as highly objectionable and alleged that the party was attempting to divert public attention from irregularities committed during its previous tenure. He questioned the need for a mock Assembly when the actual legislature was already discussing the issue.

According to the Congress legislator, the BRS had been alleging for the past 10 days that the Congress government was misusing Section 22A provisions to cause hardship to people. He said the Revenue Minister had already given a detailed explanation on the matter in the Assembly, speaking for nearly four hours.

“When the facts are being placed before the House, conducting a parallel Assembly outside it amounts to disrespecting the legislature,” Reddy said. He alleged that the BRS was using the 22A issue politically to divert attention from problems associated with the previous government’s Dharani land records system.

The controversy intensified after 22 BRS MLAs were suspended by Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar for allegedly disrupting the proceedings and raising slogans during the ongoing monsoon session. The legislators were suspended for the remainder of the session.

In protest against the suspensions, BRS leaders organised a mock Assembly at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday. During the programme, they raised issues including the six guarantees promised by the Congress government, irrigation, power supply, tribal welfare and revenue-related problems.

Reddy, however, maintained that the BRS should use the Legislative Assembly to raise issues instead of conducting a parallel session outside the House. He accused the opposition party of resorting to such measures for political reasons rather than addressing the issues through the established legislative process.