YSRCP to boycott Assembly Session

Demanding the disqualification of all 20 defectors and sacking of four ministers who crossed over, YSR Congress has said that it will boycott the ensuing assembly session unless their demand is met and democracy is saved as the latest Assembly bulletin shows that the Opposition Party has strength of 66 members, which include four ministers.

Speaking to reporters after the Legislature Party Meeting Chaired by Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy here on Thursday, P Ramachandra Reddy said, the values of parliamentary democracy is under severe threat as no action was taken against the 20 MLAs who had defected from our Party and the scar has become more glaring and wide with four of them sworn in as ministers.

The irony would be that those defectors inducted into the cabinet would be answering the questions we would be raising the Assembly bulletin still maintains that they are members elected from YSR Congress Party. To save democracy and uphold the values of parliamentary democracy we demand that the four ministers be dropped and all the 20 MLAs be disqualified.

Unless this is done, the Legislature Party has decided to keep away from the Assembly session scheduled to begin next month.

We shall take up the issue with the Governor, President and Prime Minister and tell them that the issue has been pending with the Speakers Office for the past 1.5 years and no action was taken. As per the latest bulletin released by Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly, the Opposition Party has 20 MLAs, four of them who were inducted into cabinet.

Such a situation must never had happened in the annals parliamentary democracy of the country and if our demand is not met, we will stay away from the ensuing assembly session and go to the people about the dichotomy of the Chandrababu Naidu government, he said.

When asked about the boycott of session, he said the meeting had discussed it at length and has taken a conscious decision and the issues would be taken to the people. The way assembly was being conducted by the TDP government has been a blot on democracy. The sessions were used to degrade the Opposition and no issue of public importance could be broached.

Of the 10 sessions held so far, the assembly was conducted for just 90 days while the normal length of budget session should be 40 days. During YSR term, he has convened assembly for 156 days spread across eight sessions between 2004 and 2009, he said.

Citing precedence of Opposition leaders boycotting assembly session, he said, NTR has done it while he was Leader of Opposition, so did J Jayalalithaa had done in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and even Chandrababu Naidu had done while he was in Opposition, he said.