VIJAYAWADA: Verbal duel laced with sarcastic remarks took place between the Treasury and Opposition benches in the AP Legislative Assembly on Wednesday over two issues — seating arrangement for the members in the House and supplementary questions during the Question Hour.
At one point of time, Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu had a face-off with Speaker Tammineni Sitaram over the rules and conventions in the House and the TDP chief stressed the need for giving a chance to the Opposition to defend themselves against the allegations made by the ruling party members.
It all started with the Speaker asking YSRC legislator Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy to go back to the seat allotted to him instead of sitting in some other place when he started raising an objection to TDP deputy floor leader K Atchannaidu asking a supplementary question to an already closed discussion.
After returning to the seat allotted to him, Sridhar Reddy objected to Atchannaidu sitting beside Naidu, stating that it was not the seat allotted to him, but to TDP legislator Butchaiah Chowdary.
At the same time, YSRC legislator Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said that it was not a practice to allow a supplementary question to a already closed discussion. Amid cross-talk between ruling and opposition members, the Speaker asked Atchananidu to go back to his allotted seat. At that point, Naidu urged the Speaker to allow Atchannaidu to sit beside him as he was TDP’s deputy floor leader. “I took note of your request and will examine it,” the Speaker said.
Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said that allotment was made by the Chair (Speaker) as per seniority, portfolio and alphabetic order. Taking objection to his comments, Naidu asked the minister not to speak in a disrespectful tone. “Insulting me will not get you any popularity,” he told the minister.
Minister for Panchayat Raj Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said that in the previous government, the then Legislative Affairs Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu objected to him sitting elsewhere.
When the TDP members again raised a supplementary question, Anam again objected to the same. YSRC legislator Ambati Rambabu observed that the TDP was enacting a “sympathy drama”. The Legislative Affairs Minister explained the rule position and said that allowing supplementary questions was at the discretion of the Speaker.
Intervening, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took objection to the members of the Opposition wasting time by indulging in issues that were not part of the Question Hour. He also read the rule position from the book. “It seems the Opposition want to create a situation where they want to project that the ruling party is creating trouble to gain sympathy,” Jagan observed.
The Speaker gave a ruling that hereafter only signatories would be allowed to speak during the Question Hour and supplementary questions would be allowed only at the discretion of the Speaker. It led to a face-off between the Speaker and Naidu.
Reorganisation of districts on cards
Vijayawada: The YSRC government is planning to reorganise the districts in the State. The new districts will be formed based on the existing Lok Sabha constituencies. A clarification in this regard was given by Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose in the Legislative Council