Opposition Status Issue: Conspiracy Exposed with Payyavula's Comments!

Amaravati: YSRCP leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s concerns regarding the absence of principal opposition party in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly seem to be valid as the current dispensation conspiring to undermine the YSRCP by denying it’s chief  YS Jagan Mohan Reddy the position of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the August House. 

Earlier, YS Jagan wrote a letter to the Assembly Speaker Ayyanna Patrudu and urged him to recognise his party as the principal opposition party. He also referred to the absence of any such provision in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly notified under Article 208 of the Constitution of India which denies the recognition of the leader of the sole opposition party as LoP. However, it seems the state government is determined to not recognise YS Jagan as the Leader of Opposition. 

When the media persons asked Minister for Legislative Affairs Payyavula Kesav for his response on YSRCP leader’s letter to the Assembly Speaker, the TDP minister said,”No way Jagan is going to get recognised as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.” He said that the YSRCP leader will only be seen as a floor leader in the House. 

“No party will be recognised as a principal opposition party just because a letter was sent to the Assembly Speaker. We should not forget that it took 10 years for Congress to get the principal opposition party status in the Parliament,” he added. 

In his letter to the Speaker, YS Jagan highlighted that how the absence of Leader of Opposition status would curb his participation in the debates on public issues and any permission to extend the time to speak would be at the mercy of the ruling combine which has an overwhelming majority and the discretion of the Honourable Speaker, who wishes to see me dead. 

Notably, the office of the YSRCP has not received any reply from the Speaker yet. The statement of the Legislative Affairs Minister indicates that the coalition government has decided to deprive the YSRCP of LoP status so they can run the House smoothly without being questioned by the opposition party.
 

Also Read: Fact Check: Exposing Eenadu's False Propaganda on Jagan's Security