NEW DELHI: The tussle between the Andhra government and the judiciary intensified Thursday with the ruling YSRC raising the high court’s gag order on media both inside and outside Parliament. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, YSRC Parliamentary Party leader V Vijayasai Reddy termed the high court’s interim orders staying further probe in a case registered against former advocate-general Dammalapati Srinivas and restraining the media from reporting on the FIR concerned ‘unusual’ and ‘legally questionable’.
Vijayasai raised the issue during a discussion on Covid-19 situation. When reminded by the Chair to stick to the topic under discussion, he minced no words in saying that despite odds from the judiciary, AP is doing its best to fight the pandemic.
“Normally, governments seek gag orders on media but in AP, the situation is different with the judiciary passing such orders. There seems to be an overlapping of functioning of constitutional bodies and the general impression is the judiciary has overreached the legislature and executive,” he said. Amid interruptions from TDP members, he wondered how the media gag could benefit the petitioner and alleged “judiciary is not impartial to the government of AP”.
YSRC MPs stage protest outside Parliament
Later, the YSRC MPs staged a protest outside Parliament demanding CBI probe into the Amaravati land scam and the AP Fiber Grid scam. In an interaction with the press, Vijayasai Reddy commented that the gag order by the judiciary did not go down well with the intelligentsia as it is a tool which should be used under very special and extraordinary circumstances.
He was, however, quick to add that they are not attributing motives to any individuals but are only questioning and want the same yardstick to be applied to one and all. “There were no such gag orders when we were at the receiving end and things seemed to be right and now the interpretation has differed,” he regretted. YSRC Lok Sabha MP PV Midhun Reddy said they would take up the issue with the President and Prime Minister.
The Opposition TDP took exception to the YSRC MPs’ remarks. “The YSRC is misusing Parliament as a platform to blackmail courts and frighten judges,” TDP Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar claimed.
IT’S A PLOY TO FRIGHTEN JUDGES: TDP
Opposition TDP took exception to the YSRC MPs’ remarks in Parliament. “The YSRC is misusing Parliament as a platform to blackmail courts and frighten judges,” TDP Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar alleged, adding the party will take the issue to the notice of the Rajya Sabha Chairman and courts