GUNTUR: State Legislative Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao performed Palabhishekam (cleansing with milk) to a flex of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Narasaraopet in Guntur district on Sunday during a programme organised by MEPMA staff.
The programme was organised to thank the Chief Minister for announcing honorarium to MEPMA (Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas) resource persons (RPs). Speaking on the occasion, the Speaker appreciated the State government for providing job protection to the MEPMA resource persons.
However, former Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar of the Congress took objection to the action of Kodela. “The Speaker is not an individual post, but a system. The person who is elected as the Speaker of the Assembly should follow the norms,” Manohar said and termed the Speaker’s ‘Palabhishekam’ on the Chief Minister’s flex a “sad incident”.
When contacted, Kodela explained that it was not a political programme. He said women MEPMA members cleansed the flex of the Chief Minister with milk and requested him to do the same, so he did it. He said there was nothing wrong in it as the person is the Chief Minister.