MLAs reach House on cycles, bullock carts

Protesting against the hike in prices of petrol and diesel, Opposition MLAs led by Telugu Desam Party chief  Nara Chandrababu Naidu came to the Assembly  on Tuesday on a bicycles and bullock carts.

The Opposition legislators  were  joined in by their counterparts  from the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist. They all started together from the NTR Ghat  and proceeded to the Assembly.  The lone legislator of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) G. Kishan Reddy, came to House pushing his motorcycle.

Holding  their respective party flags, the MLAs demanded that the Government rollback the petroleum prices hiked by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his Budget presentation on Feb 26.

Tdp president, Chandrababu Naidu, who rode both the bullock cart for some distance and and also on a cycle for some distance,  took up  the matter in  the Assembly.  He urged Chief Minister K Rosaiah to move a resolution in the House demanding a rollback of petroleum  prices.

Further, the Tdp, CPI, CPM  and the BJP demanded a debate in  the  House on the prices hike. The motion was summarily rejected by Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Following the Speaker rejecting a discussion on the oil prices, there was pandemonium and the House was adjourned for 15 minutes in the morning session.

Later, speaking to the media, the Tdp chief said ``hike in fuel prices has added to the misery of the common man, who is already overburdened by the impact of rising prices of essential commodities.''