Naidu seeks House panel probe into corruption charges against Forest officials

Speaker Y Ramakrishnudu later announced that a House committee would be constituted to look into the charges and counter-charges by two groups of senior forest officials.

Raised by Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) member Asaduddin Owaisi during zero hour, the issue disrupted Assembly proceedings for an hour. The ruling Telugu Desam and Congress members stormed the well of the House, leading to noisy scenes.

First, Owaisi insisted on a specific reply from the Government on the action proposed against the PCCF as he had been indicted by the ACB. Later, it was the turn of Congress members to demand the dismissal of Mukherji and press for the disclosure of the ACB report.

Tempers ran high with Congress leader P Janardhan Reddy alleging that the chief minister had been protecting the PCCF despite an adverse ACB report against him. "The chief minister had even replaced the forest minister to save the skin of the official," the Congress leader said.

When the Speaker denied Reddy the microphone saying the rules did not permit it, several Congress members including D S Redya Naik, T Jeevan Reddy, K Jyoti Devi, N Varadarajulu Reddy, K R Suresh Reddy and Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu rushed into the well of the House. At the same time, TDP members including M Ranga Reddy, M A Rahman and AJVB Maheswara Rao surged into the Well protesting against Janardhan Reddy’s remarks against Naidu. The House witnessed exchange of invectives and menacing gesticulation. However, both the sides withdrew later.

The chief minister denounced “Opposition tactics” and said he was prepared for a full-fledged debate on any day fixed by the Chair. "I am even ready to show the relevant files to the floor leaders," he declared.

"As only three days are left in the current session, you (Congress) are desperately looking for issues and are bent on creating noisy scenes in the House," he said. "We have not done anything wrong and are prepared for any kind of probe if charges are proved," he said.

Naidu lamented that Congress members were levelling charges based on anonymous pamphlets brought out against the PCCF. "It has been going on in the forest department for the last few years. There are two groups in the department and each is levelling charges against the other," he pointed out.

Dissatisfied with Naidu’s reply, Congress members again entered the Well and demanded that the ACB report be placed before the House at once. That triggered another wave of noisy scenes and Congress members left the House protesting against the Government’s stand on the issue.

The chief minister then urged the Speaker to constitute a House committee to look into the controversy and the faction feud in the forest department. "Let us dismiss from service those found guilty by the committee," he said.

Puvvada Nageswara Rao (Communist Party of India), N Narsimha Reddy (CPI-Marxist), Baddam Bal Reddy (Bharatiya Janata Party) and Lakshmi Parvati (NTR-TDP) endorsed the chief minister’s suggestion for a House committee enquiry into the forest department row.