The YSR Congress party’s demand to be declared the main opposition party in the state continued to roil the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, with the party protesting again on Wednesday after Speaker C Ayana Patrudhu rejected party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy’s demand to recognise him as the Leader of the Opposition.
Terming former chief minister Jagan’s demand to be recognised as a local party “unreasonable”, Patrudhu said the law requires parties to have at least 18 members to qualify for the post. The YSRCP, which faced defeat in the May last year assembly elections, has 11 of the 175 seats, down from the 151 it won in the 2019 elections. Link
This is the second time since the budget session began on February 24 that the YSRCP has raised the demand for LoP in the House.
“The AAP has given the BJP the status of an opposition party when it had only three members. We are the only opposition in Andhra Pradesh – the Telugu Desam Party, the BJP and the Jana Sena are members of the coalition,” he said. Link
He also accused the LDF-led Chandrababu Naidu government of failing to respect constitutional values “by not allowing the only opposition party in the Assembly to function properly in the House, not giving it adequate time to speak and not giving it the status of a people’s party.”
“How will the voice of the people be heard if the opposition party is not allowed to be in the House? We have got 40 per cent votes, if we get the status of opposition, who will be the opposition?” he asked.
The Speaker reminded Jagan that his writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking recognition as an LoP is pending, warning that his claims could amount to breach of privileges and contempt of the House. Link