Express News Service By

HYDERABAD: The AP Assembly, which normally witnesses highly charged atmosphere with members of treasury benches and Opposition YSRC always engaging themselves in war of words, on Thursday, reverberated with loud and uncontrollable laughter by majority of members belonging to both sides for most of the time.

At first, it was BJP floor leader Penmetsa Vishnukumar Raju, who tried to make his peers split their sides with laughter by raising the issue of dog menace in Visakhapatnam, followed by YSRC member SV Mohan Reddy’s complaint about growing population of pigs in Kurnool. Later, YSRC MLA Buggana Rajendranath Reddy too tried to continue the relaxed atmosphere by cracking jokes with exemplary parables while picking holes in the State government’s claims and allocations made to various projects in the Budget.

At a time when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was striving hard for making Visakhapatnam city an IT hub on the East Coast, BJP’s Vishnukumar Raju, who represents Visakhapatnam North segment in the Assembly, complained that the port city had become a “safe haven for stray dogs.”

When the issue of growing stray dogs’ menace in the State was raised by the YSRC MLA Isaiah Yakkaladevi in the House during Question Hour, Raju felt that stray dogs are dangerous than pickpockets and petty thieves.

Narrating his personal encounters with stray canines in Vizag city, the BJP legislator said,” Speaker sir!.. There are more than one lakh stray dogs in Vizag. Two thousand people have become victims to the dog menace, so far, in the city. These stray dogs are creating a scare among people,” Vishnukumar Raju bemoaned.

Dumbfounded by the way the BJP legislator was complaining about stray dogs’ menace so seriously in the House, even Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao was unable to control his laughter and joined chorus with all other members bringing delight in the House. Even as all the members were laughing about Raju’s complaint, YSRC MLA SV Mohan Reddy raised growing pig menace in Kurnool.

Responding to these issues, Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana backed the claim of Vishnukumar Raju that Visakhapatnam has large number of stray dogs.

“There are 3.47 lakh stray dogs in the State. But, their number is considerably bigger in Visakhapatnam. The city has 1.39 lakh dogs,” he informed.