Why is the Telugu Desam Party government in Andhra Pradesh led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu not giving leader of opposition status to YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the state legislative assembly?
The reason is not because the YSRCP has only 11 MLAs and has fallen short of the numbers required for being acknowledged as the leader of opposition in the assembly – which is 18 MLAs.
The real reason is that Naidu is afraid of facing Jagan in the assembly, as the latter, if given the leader of opposition status, will get more time to speak and thus, corner the government on its failures to deliver goods.
Well, that is what the YSRCP wants to say to defend its decision to boycott the state assembly.
YSRCP MLA Chandrasekhar said the coalition is going back on giving Leader of Opposition status to Jagan Mohan Reddy as their failures would be exposed.
He said it is only to be voice of the people that we have asked the status to our leader. What is needed is time for our leader to speak on the failures of the government.
“A letter to this effect was written to the Speaker and when there was no reply we moved the court and there was no reply from the government,” he said.
Earlier, Jagan, who held a meeting with the YSRCP members of the state legislative council, too, made similar remarks.
He stated that YSRCP had filed a petition in the High Court seeking official opposition status in the Assembly, but the Speaker has not yet responded to the counter.
He noted that YSRCP remains the sole opposition in the Assembly but is being denied rightful recognition.
He added that the ruling party seems unwilling to grant opposition status, as it would require allocating time and opportunities for the opposition to question the government.
YS Jagan criticized the government for disregarding the opposition’s voice and failing to recognize a party with a 40% vote share.
He called upon the MLCs to expose the government’s failures and stand firm in questioning its decisions.
