YSRCP as only opposition in Assembly, should get LOP status: Jagan Mohan Reddy
Amaravati, March 5 (IANS) YSRCP President and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday said his party is the only opposition party in the state Assembly and hence, it should get the status of the opposition party.
Hours after Speaker Ayyanna Patrudu gave a ruling, rejecting Jagan Mohan Reddy’s demand for Leader of Opposition status, the YSRCP chief asked if the lone party in the opposition is not recognised, then what does the Assembly function for?
He reiterated that the YSRCP should be recognised as the opposition party as there is no other opposition party in the House.
“There is no other party other than us who are in the opposition. The BJP, the Jana Sena, and the TDP are together. They are part of the alliance. They are the ruling party,” Jagan Mohan Reddy told reporters.
The former Chief Minister also contended that there is no rule which stipulates criteria for a party to be recognised as opposition party.
The Speaker, while rejecting Jagan Mohan Reddy’s request, had stated that a party in opposition in the 175-member Assembly needs a minimum strength of 18 members to consider a leader of such party for recognition as the Leader of the Opposition.
The YSR Congress Party secured only 11 seats in the Assembly elections held last year.
“Whatever may be the numbers, the fact is that we have a 40 per cent vote share. That continues to be a fact whether somebody accepts or does not accept that. We being the only party in the opposition, if we are not given the recognition as the opposition party, then who is going to be the opposition party,” he asked.
“If a party is recognised as the opposition, irrespective of the MLAs they hold, automatically, they would elect their leader who automatically becomes the leader of the opposition party,” he said.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the recognition gives the advantage to the Leader of the Opposition or the opposition party is that the Speaker is supposed to give the time and mike, so much so that it has to be on part with the time given to the Leader of the House. “Why does anybody do that? It’s because they want the opposition to speak out. Only when the opposition speaks out and only when the opposition is given sufficient time, issues would come up and only then the government would take corrective measures,” he said.
“If you do not want the opposition to speak, then you are just making a mockery of the Assembly,” the YSRCP chief remarked.
He mentioned that in the previous Delhi Assembly, the AAP had given the BJP the opposition party status though it had only three MLAs in the 80-member House. A BJP member was given the status of the Leader of the Opposition.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said when the YSRCP was in power, they had given Chandrababu Naidu the status of the Leader of the Opposition.
“Our party men told me that five of the TDP MLAs would sit separately and we would pull another 10 MLAs into our party, I did not agree. I told Chandrababu Naidu to speak in the Assembly as long as he can, I will hear. This is the difference between him and me,” he said.
–IANS
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