The private TV channel NDTV and The Times of India reported that pandemonium broke out soon after five minister of the Union government opposed in Parliament Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposal to bifurcate the state of Andhra Pradesh.
According to Indian media reports ministers KS Rao, D Purandeswari, K Suryaprakash and Chiranjib entered the well and raised slogans in favour of a united Andhra.
Two other ministers M Pallam Raju and Kruparani Killi also joined the chorus.
In the meantime, M Jagannathan of the Congress and N Shivaprasad of the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) got involved in a heated exchange of words, so much so that the two nearly came to blows.
At one point the Lok Sabha appeared to be a sharply divided house.
Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge was presenting the interim budget of the Indian Railways when the bedlam forced him back to his seat.
Aggrieved minister Pallam Raju called the PM’s comment unfair. He said the bill to create Telangana had done injustice to Andhra Pradesh and there was no need to table it in a hurry.
Finally, peace was restored at the behest of JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav, Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy and Jagadambika Pal of the Congress.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rose to speak after tempers cooled and calm was restored. “My heart bleeds to see what is happening in the House. This is bad for democracy,” he said.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Kamal Nath, too, condemned the unruly incident, saying it was unfortunate and a bad precedent for the future.
Last reports said the Prime Minister and other ministers had referred the contentious issue to Speaker Meira Kumar for a solution.