New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) Noisy protests for and against the division of Andhra Pradesh Thursday forced repeated adjournments of the Lok Sabha that saw 28 business papers tabled in a span of just 15 minutes amid the chaos.
Speaker Meira Kumar was forced to adjourn the Lok Sabha for two hours after earlier adjourning the house for 15 minutes as the MPs from Andhra Pradesh representing the two sides of the debate for a separate state of Telangana continually disrupted the house.

There were two adjournments in the pre-lunch session. The house had first been adjourned at 11.15 a.m. for 15 minutes. There was a brief lull in the house after it resumed at 11.30 a.m. The Question Hour went on rather smoothly till noon when the chaos began all over again.

As soon as the speaker announced tabling of business papers, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members, including M. Venugopala Reddy, N. Sivaprasad, K. Narayana Rao, and N. Kristappa, trooped towards the speaker’s podium shouting slogans against the division of the state.

In what was a repeat of scenes in the morning, they held up placards stating “We want united AP (Andhra Pradesh)”. Some Congress MPs, also held up Telugu placards with the same message, but did not get up from their seats.

Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, also joined them but was silently standing near his seat.

Irrespective of party affiliations, there was a clear division between MPs from Telangana and other regions of the states.

The votaries for a united Andhra Pradesh were countered by MPs from the Telangana region, including from the Congress and the TDP, waving placards stating “Jai Telangana”.

“Don’t show placards. Please don’t introduce such things in the house,” Meira Kumar said amid the chaos and noisy protests earlier.

She urged the MPs to maintain the sanctity and order of the house. “There is certain sanctity to (the) house. This is breach of sanctity. Please observe the sanctity.”

Amid the din, 28 papers on different issues were laid on the table in a span of 15 minutes. Chaos ruled the house during this period and the MPs who tabled the papers were not even audible.

The speaker was then forced to adjourn the house till 2 p.m.