Illegal mining of granite, sand and other minerals rocks Assembly, BRS members suspended for two days

Illegal mining of sand, granite and other minerals in some parts of the State rocked the Legislative Assembly on Sunday (March 29, 2026) leading to suspension of over a dozen Bharat Rashtra Samiti members from the House.

Immediately as the House convened for the sitting, BRS members led by the party’s deputy floor leader T. Harish Rao and working president K.T. Rama Rao raised slogans demanding constitution of a house committee to probe irregularities in mining and sacking of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy from the portfolio for his alleged involvement in illegal mining.

With the Treasury Benches remaining unmoved to the demand, the main Opposition members thronged the Well of the House continuing their slogans against the Government’s inaction on those engaged in illicit mining of the State’s resources. Repeated requests by Speaker G. Prasad Kumar asking the members to resume their seats went in vain.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy who intervened in the matter requested the Speaker to suspend the agitated members for two days, Monday being the last day of the budget session, so that the remaining business including passage of some key bills was conducted. With the requests from the Speaker going in vain, Legislative Affairs Minister D. Sridhar Babu moved the motion seeking suspension of the BRS members which was passed by voice vote.

Kaushik Reddy’s gestures against Kadiyam Srihari referred to Ethics Committee

The House also saw heated exchanges between the ruling and opposition parties owing to behaviour of BRS member Padi Kaushik Reddy for allegedly making threatening gestures towards member Kadiyam Sridhari. Several members of the ruling party, particularly those hailing from dalit communities, took strong objections to Mr. Kaushik Reddy’s behaviour claiming that the ruling party member displayed his “upper caste arrogance” against Mr. Srihari, a senior member of the House hailing from the Dalit community.

The members alleged that the behaviour was unethical and wanted Mr. Kaushik Reddy to be suspended from the House for the remaining part of his tenure as MLA. They recalled the suspension for the tenure imposed on the Congress members Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and S. Sampath Kumar by the BRS in the past for merely staging protest against the budget proposals and wanted similar action to be initiated against Mr. Kaushik Reddy.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy who intervened in the discussion as the din continued wanted the Chair to take a decision regarding suspension of the BRS members who were obstructing the proceedings. He refused the Opposition’s demand to constitute a house committee to probe mining irregularities claiming that the House panel was only a recommendatory body and its report would ultimately be entrusted to the investigating agencies.

“The House panel cannot take any action. The report has to go to Government agencies like the CID or CBI. We have already announced a comprehensive inquiry by the CB-CID into the issue,” he said. The Chief Minister explained that the State Government had ordered the probe to ensure that there was no scope for “looting of public money” either by the opposition members or by the ruling party members, if any, involved.

As the BRS members remained unrelenting, they were suspended from the House for two days.