Vijayawada, March 14, 2022: Five MLAs of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were suspended from the rest of the ongoing Budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday, March 14, after they insisted on a discussion regarding the deaths of several people in Jangareddygudem allegedly due to illicit liquor. TDP MLAs Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Gorantla Butchaiah Choudary, Payyavula Keshav, Nimmala Ramanaidu and Dola Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy were suspended from the House for disrupting the proceedings and creating pandemonium, Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker Tammineni Sitaram said.
The opposition TDP has alleged that the YSRCP government is responsible for the deaths of 18 people in West Godavari district’s Jangareddygudem, by failing to control the brewing and sale of illicit liquor in the region. The state government had ordered a probe into the suspected illicit liquor deaths in the region, with officials of the Revenue, Police, Excise, Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB), Medical and Health departments conducting inquiries and teams of officials visiting the houses of the victims to gather details as part of the investigation.
However, state Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) has claimed that most of the deaths were due to various causes unrelated to consumption of illicit liquor, and alleged that the TDP was trying to politicise the deaths. On March 14, TDP leaders in the Assembly insisted on having a discussion over the issue, raising slogans against the YSRCP government for allegedly failing to curb the brewing and sale of illicit liquor according to the reports published in thenewsminute.com.
Minister for Legislative Affairs Bugga Rajendranath requested that the five MLAs be suspended under sub-rule (2) of rule 340 (Suspension of member) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, following which speaker Tammineni Sitaram suspended them from the rest of the current Budget session of the Assembly.
The Health Minister repeated his earlier claims in the Assembly while speaking about his visit to Jangareddygudem, claiming that natural deaths and deaths from other causes were made to look like illicit liquor deaths.
