Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy strongly defended mining leases given for extracting iron ore, bauxite and granite reserves in the State claiming that all these were done in a fair and transparent manner. On a day of high voltage drama in the Assembly, the Telugu Desam Party and the Treasury benches were engaged in heated exchanges over the bauxite mining lease issue. Jindal South West Aluminium Limited and Ras-al-Khaimah, a kingdom in United Arab Emirates, are setting up alumina refineries respectively near S. Kota and Makavarapalem. The State-owned AP Mineral Development Corporation will mine the bauxite reserves and meet the requirement for the proposed plant. The noisy protests by the TDP members culminated in their suspension after they repeatedly prevented Dr. Reddy from making a statement. CPI (M), CPI and the BJP members later staged a walkout expressing displeasure at the Chief Minister's reply. Aggressive reply Amid all the furore, Dr. Reddy gave an aggressive reply lasting over 90 minutes to personal allegations levelled against him by T. Devender Goud (TDP) that he and his relatives were