TDP MP Y.S. Chowdary says, speech was edited

  TDP leader Y.S. Chowdary on Wednesday alleged he was being denied the right to detail the reasons for resigning from the Centre and that Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu’s office had edited his farewell speech. “If any Minister resigns under Rule 241 of Rajya Sabha rules, he is allowed to present his side in the house. I was told that a draft of my speech has to be cleared by Chairman’s office. They approved the speech after heavily editing it,” Mr. Chowdary said.

He said that the secrecy clause prohibits him from revealing exactly which portions of his speech was edited out. At appropriate time, he said he will release the two drafts. The one written by him and the other edited by the Chairman's office.

He said that he was not allowed to read out even the edited speech since the government is not willing to bring order in the house.

"This is not the way to run the house. The government should strive for unanimity. After all Parliament not about numbers its about members and each of them represent lakhs and crores of people," he added.

Clearing of Union Budget in Lok Sabha on Wednesday has put TDP in a fix. The speculation is rife that the Parliament session will be truncated and could end this week.

On Wednesday, the TDP MPs were holed in for a day long meeting trying to come up with a post-Parliament strategy. And BJP's inert reaction towards resignation of two TDP ministers too has flummoxed them.

"We believed that our resignations would sensitise the BJP government. But they have not reached out to us and haven't made any effort to resolve the issues," Mr Chowdary said.

The MPs are divided on whether to keep Delhi as the centre point of their agitation or shift it to Andhra Pradesh. "Originally the Parliament was working till April 6. That looks unlikely now. Even if the government is not listening when we protest inside and outside Parliament the message reaches people that TDP is fighting. But what after that," a senior TDP leader said.