Will YSR Congress party president and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy get the leader of opposition status in the state legislative assembly?
As per the assembly rules, an opposition party gets the Leader of Opposition status in the House, only if it gets at least 10 percent of the total number of seats and the other opposition parties get less than its tally.
However, in the present state assembly, there is no other opposition party, except YSRCP. But the YSRCP should get a minimum of 18 assembly seats to get the LOP status. Since it has only 11 seats, as per rules, Jagan cannot be declared as the leader of the opposition.
Sources said Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu decided that Jagan should be treated with respect, instead of contempt, at least in the state assembly, because there is no other opposition.
So, Naidu has ordered that Jagan’s convoy be allowed up to the main entrance of the assembly and he be allowed to take oath as the member of the assembly soon after the completion of the oath-taking by the cabinet ministers.
Accordingly, Jagan arrived into the assembly while oath-taking ceremony was going on. After all the ministers took their oath, the YSRCP president was called for swearing-in.
He greeted the members with folded hands, took his oath, went to the Speaker’s podium, shook hands with pro-tem Speaker Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary and left the House.
Going by the way the government has given priority to Jagan, it appears Naidu is considering granting Leader of Opposition status to the YSRCP president. If it happens, Jagan will get the seating in the front row and his party MLAs would also be given seats beside him.
