VIJAYAWADA: The YSR Congress has urged President of India Ram Nath Kovind to intervene and “stall the ongoing mockery of parliamentary democracy in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and Council” where 21 defectors have been allotted seats in the treasury benches and four of them were inducted into the State Cabinet.In a five-page letter addressed to the President, Leader of the Opposition and YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy said, “The Legislature Party meeting has unanimously adopted a resolution seeking action against all the defected YSRC legislators and dropping of four turncoats who were inducted into the Cabinet. Until action is taken against them, we cannot attend the Assembly session as we would be part of the mockery of the democracy. We urge you to intervene and stop this blatant violation of the Constitution by the TDP.”
Quoting the letter, party MLA G Srikanth Reddy told mediapersons that the party had passed a resolution with a heavy heart but at the same time their conscience never permits them to sit in the Assembly and Council when members elected on YSRC ticket were sitting in the treasury benches with four of them holding Cabinet rank.
He pointed out that Assembly Secretariat in its latest bulletin dated October 1, 2017, mentioned that the defected MLAs were still holding the posts in the party, though they were removed from those posts following their defection. “Our demand is that all 20 MLAs and one MLC should be suspended immediately from the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council to safeguard the democratic values and we will not be attending the proceedings unless the Speaker and Chairman take action against them,” he said.
The Assembly is for making laws and not for breaking laws as it is happening now in Andhra Pradesh and the four ministers C Adinarayana Reddy, R Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, N Amarnath Reddy and B Akhila Priya should be dropped and all the defectors should be disqualified to uphold the value system of the democracy. “Otherwise we will be guilty of perpetuating the assault on the Constitution,” he said.
‘YSRC will pay the price’
Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said it is unfortunate to have a person like him as the Leader of the Opposition. Boycotting Assembly is another mistake ofagan and he will have to pay heavy price for the same, he said, adding that Jagan has no faith in democracy, legislative bodies and the Constitution.