All these days, there has been a talk that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been adopting “Delhi me dosti-gully me kusti” stand towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While fighting aggressively with the BJP in the state, the TRS chief has been maintaining friendly relationship with the Narendra Modi government at the centre.
The way he got the appointments of the Prime Minister and Union home minister Amit Shah during his recent visit to Delhi proves this point.
However, on Friday, the TRS sprang a surprise by strongly opposing a decision taken by the Modi government.
The party pulled out of the Rajya Sabha committee to be constituted by chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to look into allegations of misconduct against Opposition MPs during the last day of the monsoon session.
Thus TRS has become the fourth opposition party to withdraw from the official probe, the other three being the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
On August 11, in the dying hours of the disruption-hit monsoon session, some opposition MPs clashed with the marshals when the general insurance amendment bill was cleared amid furious protests.
At least two marshals submitted a written account of their injuries to the chairperson. Two women MPs of the Congress, Phulo Devi and Chayya Varma, alleged they were manhandled that broke out on the floor of the House.
An internal Rajya Sabha secretariat report later said opposition MPs tore papers, obstructed ministers from taking their seats, choked and suffocated one marshal, dragged and pushed another, took videos and even climbed on a LED TV stand.
The Opposition denied these charges and blamed the government for the unruly scenes in the House. They said outsiders were brought into the House who used force and physically manhandled members.
Venkaiah Naidu later proposed a committee to examine the complaints and the ruckus that took place and said he was “deeply pained” by the incident.
The government blamed the Opposition for disrupting Parliament, deviating from Parliamentary procedure and damaging house property.
The TRS initially had agreed to join the panel. But earlier this week, TRS floor leader K Kesava Rao sent a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu, expressing his reluctance to be a part of the probe into the action of Opposition MPs during the furious protests on the last day of the monsoon session.
Apart from TRS’ efforts to maintain a distance with the BJP, TRS chief and Telangana chief minister K ChandrasHekar Rao enjoys close ties with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The second-largest Opposition party, Trinamool Congress is not likely to be invited in the panel because several party lawmakers allegedly were involved in the ruckus.
The BJP and its ally, the Janata Dal (United), and some other parties are expected to join the probe.
