YSR Congress party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision to stay away from the assembly proceedings on the pretext that he has not been given the leader of the opposition status has drawn criticism from various quarters.
Jagan is of the view that there is no point in attending the assembly sessions when the state government doesn’t acknowledge his party as the opposition.
“If it considers YSRCP is the opposition, it has to acknowledge me as the leader of the opposition. When it doesn’t treat us as an opposition, why should we attend?” is his argument.
Analysts say Jagan’s decision will only backfire on him, as it sends a message to the people that he is running away from his responsibility of representing the people’s problems in the assembly.
“Obviously, it leads to the talk that Jagan, with just 11 MLAs in the House, has no face to sit in the opposition benches,” an analyst said.
In fact, the government has never said YSRCP is not an opposition. It only says it cannot give the privileges associated with the LOP status, like cabinet rank.
“So, Jagan’s decision gives the impression that he is more interested in getting the status, rather than coming to the assembly to raise the public issues,” the analyst said.
Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila described his decision as shameful.
“It shows your ignorance, timidity, inefficiency and arrogance. “You are known for cheating the people who elected you. This time, you are also insulting them,” she said on her social media platform X.
Stating that Jagan was suffering from Chandrababu Naidu phobia, Sharmila said her brother had no guts to come to the assembly and pull up Naidu on the government’s decisions.
“You are so scared of Naidu that you are not able to see your own face in the mirror, but are seeing Naidu’s image,” she criticised.
