VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu has ruled out the possibility of granting Leader of Opposition (LoP) status to YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as his party lacked the required numerical strength.
In the 175-member Assembly, a party must have at least 18 MLAs — 10% of the total strength — to qualify for the opposition recognition.
The YSRCP has mere 11 MLAs. With the YSRCP falling short of the required strength, Ayyanna declared that discretionary recognition would be inappropriate, delivering this ruling during the Assembly session on Wednesday.
The decision followed a contentious exchange initiated by a June 24, 2024, letter from Jagan, which Ayyanna described as laden with accusations, speculative claims, threats, and flawed arguments asserting the former Chief Minister’s entitlement to the LoP status.
Notably, the letter lacked a clear request. Jagan then took the matter to the Andhra Pradesh High Court, seeking a directive to compel the Assembly Secretary and the Speaker to designate him as Leader of Opposition.
Ayyanna opted to await the court’s stance, which ultimately sided with the Advocate General’s suggestion to exclude the Speaker from the litigation, despite Jagan naming him as a respondent. This legal detour underscored the issue’s complexity.
The Speaker questioned Jagan’s prior understanding of the 10% rule, referencing a June 13, 2019, Assembly speech where Jagan, then Chief Minister, remarked that TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu’s 23 MLAs could lose Opposition status if reduced to below 18. In the 175-member Assembly, Jagan’s YSRCP had a strength of 151 legislators then.
This, Ayyanna contended, showed Jagan’s “selective amnesia” in now claiming the LoP status, unbecoming of his past high offices.
Speaker’s discretion over LoP status final
Legally, the LoP eligibility rests on Section 12-B of the Andhra Pradesh Payment of Salaries and Pension Act, 1953. It stipulates that the LoP must be a House member, lead the largest opposition party, and be recognised by the Speaker, whose discretion is final.
A provision allows the Speaker to choose among equal-strength opposition parties, but Ayyanna emphasised a broader convention -- the 10% quorum norm, rooted in the former Lok Sabha Speaker GV Mavalankar’s Direction 121 and mirrored in Andhra’s Direction 56. This aligns with Constitutional Articles (100(3) and 189(3) mandating a one-tenth membership quorum for legislative sittings.
Historical precedent supports this stance. Andhra’s 5th (1972-77) and 10th (1994-99) Assemblies had no LoP due to insufficient opposition strength, as did the 16th and 17th Lok Sabhas.
In Telangana, a party lost LoP status in 2019 when its numbers declined below 10% of the strength. Jagan’s cited examples, like P Janardhan Reddy’s alleged 1994 LoP role, were debunked—Reddy was only a Deputy Floor Leader.
Despite Jagan’s “utterances,” Ayyanna forgave him. The Speaker stressed that his absolute discretion under the law is tempered by these norms.
Thus, the YSRCP’s shortfall disqualified former chief minister for LoP status, a decision Ayyanna deemed consistent with constitutional, legal and historical standards.