The Telangana Assembly began on a stormy note today on the first day of the Budget Session in which the ruling TRS MLAs virtually manhandled the TDP MLAs on the floor of the House during the Governor's address.

At least three MLAs, including Revanth Reddy were pushed away by the ruling TRS leaders as they sought to raise the issue of defections by their party MLAs and MLCs over to the TRS charging that the TRS had engineered defections and urged the Governor to intervene and take action suo motu against the MLAs  by suspending them.

The TDP members alleged that the Telangana speaker and the ruling party were throwing the democratic and legislative norms to winds by not disqualifying the TDP MLAs who had crossed the floor for political gains.As they began shouting slogans, the TRS members joined the issue and pushed down the MLAs. There was tension in the Assembly hall for some time.

The TDP MLAs continued  to shout slogans against the TRS government all through the Governor’s speech and they also tore copies of the Governor’s speech and hurled them at the Governor. In the confusion, the Congress MLAs too initially resorted to sloganeering against the ruling party but were calmed down by the CLP leader K Jana Reddy later.

Today’s events have indicated that the issue of ruling party-engineered defections from the TDP could dominate the Budget Session. Interestingly, TDP MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav though now a member of KCR cabinet had to sit along the Opposition benches or else could face anti defection law and lose his assembly membership.