Hyderabad: Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien on Fri-day threatened to penalise Congress member K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao for protesting in the Well of the House.
Mr Rao, as a mark of protest against injustice done to AP in Budget allocations, staged a dharna in the Well holding a placard ‘Help Andhra Pradesh’.
Mr Kurien, who was in the Chair, asked him to take his seat. However, Mr Rao continued his dharna even after repeated appeals from Mr Kurien, who then ordered Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to ask him to return to his seat.
At one stage, an angry Kurien asked: “What is wrong with him? Has he gone mad?” He threatened to penalise him if he did not take his seat.
Meanwhile, TD member T.G. Venkatesh told the media in Delhi that the time had come to fight the BJP. He said AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would lead the anti-BJP forces.
Expressing displeasure over Budget allocations to AP, he said the party had prepared a three-pronged strategy to fight the Cent-ral government. As a first step, the TD ministers in the Union Cabinet would resign, after which all party MPs would quit and in the final step break the alliance with the BJP, he said, adding that the key TD meeting which was scheduled to be held at Vijayawada on Sunday would be a war declaration.
