IANS

Hyderabad, Aug 6: Andhra Pradesh opposition legislators were suspended from the state assembly for a day after they stalled proceedings to demand that a house committee look into alleged irregularities by the Obulapuram Mining Company owned by Karantaka Tourism Minister G. Janardhan Reddy.

Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy suspended 80 legislators belonging to the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) after Legislative Affairs Minister K. Rosaiah moved a resolution.

As soon as the house re-assembled after being adjourned for the second time on the issue, the opposition legislators were on their feet, pressing their demand for a house committee. They raised slogans in favour of their demand even as Rosaiah, who is also minister for finance, tried to go ahead with his reply to the debate on the budget.

Amid utter pandemonium, Rosaiah moved a resolution for suspending the members and it was passed by a voice vote.

The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) of actor-turned-politician K. Chiranjeevi also lodged its protest over the government's refusal to constitute a house committee.

Earlier, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy turned down the opposition's demand for a house committee, saying the matter was pending in court. Denying any irregularities in granting mining lease or in mining activities, the chief minister alleged that the opposition was creating hurdles in the path of industrialisation and development.

"You are creating doubts in the minds of investors coming to the state," said the chief minister, who also pointed out that an all party delegation of legislators visited the mines two years ago and found no irregularities.

Obulapuram Mining Company is one of the five firms engaged in iron ore mining in Obulapuram and surrounding villages in Anantapur district bordering Karnataka.

YSR, as the chief minister is popularly known, also rejected the opposition demand for cancelling the mining lease given to private companies and for nationalisation of mines.

He clarified that the recent action of the central government in suspending the mining lease of five companies, including Obulapuram, followed a dispute between two mining companies.

"What is the interest you have in a dispute between two private companies?" he asked leader of opposition and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.

The chief minister claimed that it was the then TDP government which granted a mining lease to Obulapuram company in 1996 and when his government refused to renew the lease, the company approached the court, which ordered renewal of the lease.

Naidu, however, stood by his stand that the government committed serious irregularities to favour Obulapuram Mining Company.

After the suspension, the opposition legislators staged a protest at Gun Park in front of the assembly building. Addressing the legislators, Naidu alleged that YSR had personal interests in Obulapuram and hence was not agreeing to the demand for house committee. He urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene to stop the "loot of the state's mineral resources by some private parties in collusion with the chief minister".