HYDERABAD, India, 24 February 2007 — The Andhra Pradesh government has withdrawn the controversial government order that authorized the information commissioner to file defamation cases against newspapers and TV channels publishing or telecasting false charges, even as the entire opposition created a furor and stalled the proceedings of the state legislative assembly on the issue, forcing its abrupt adjournment for the day.

Trouble arose as soon as the assembly sitting commenced at 8.30 a.m. when Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy disallowed the adjournment notices given by all the opposition parties — Telugu Desam, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, CPI-M, CPI, Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen and BJP — on the controversial GO that sought to gag the media, the opposition members loudly protested.

They demanded that the house should take up their adjournment motion as the government, they alleged, tried to gag the media in the name of legal action for publishing or telecasting reports purportedly false, baseless and defamatory in nature.

They claimed that the Congress government led by Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was seeking to muzzle the media, particularly Eenadu Telugu daily and Eenadu Television channels owned by media baron Ramoji Rao, by imposing curbs. Such attempts were nothing short of censorship and exposed the government’s intention to target not just Eenadu but all newspapers and TV channels.

As the opposition members stood up and continued their protests, the government agreed to make a statement on the issue. Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister K. Rosaiah said that the government withdrew the GO as soon as the matter came to its notice on Thursday night.

“The GO was issued on Feb. 20. Different GOs are issued by various wings of the government. But as soon as this GO came to the chief minister’s notice and it was found that this GO was not proper, it was withdrawn immediately. An inquiry has been ordered into the issue to find out how it all happened, who issued the GO and why it was issued,” he said.

Chief Minister Reddy also told the assembly that the GO has been withdrawn and an inquiry was ordered.