Two dozen Telugu Desam Party members were suspended for two days for obstructing the proceedings of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly for an hour on Thursday morning.
The suspended members were escorted out of the House by marshals.
Trouble was sparked off as soon as the Assembly sitting began at 8.30 am. Speaker K R Suresh Reddy disallowed the adjournment motion tabled by TDP on the alleged grabbing of lands of farmers by Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy's close relatives for setting up a factory in West Godavari district.
Protesting against the speaker's announcement, TDP members stood up in their seats raising slogans denouncing the "corrupt deals" of the chief minister's kin.
They waved the copies of Eenadu Telugu daily that carried an 'expose' on the issue. The Eenadu report claimed that some persons acting on behalf of Dr Reddy's co-brother and Kadapa Mayor Ravindranath Reddy were forcibly acquiring 130 to 140 acres of lands from farmers by offering lower prices of Rs 6 lakh per acre for establishing a factory.
When his pleas to the agitated members to go back to their seats and allow the question hour to proceed yielded no result, the speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled at 9.30 am, TDP members continued their protests, demanding that their adjournment motion be taken up.
Thereupon, Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister K Rosaiah moved the motion for suspending TDP members present, barring Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu, for two days.
After the motion was adopted, marshals were called in to evict the suspended members. Chandrababu Naidu walked out.
TDP members later staged a dharna in front of the speaker's chambers, creating noisy scenes. Marshals were again called in to take them away.
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