A massive political row has erupted in Andhra Pradesh after Speaker Ayyanna Patrudu rejected YSR Congress Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's request for the Leader of the Opposition tag. Terming it an "unreasonable desire", the Speaker said a party must have a minimum of 18 members to qualify for the Leader of the Opposition post, but YSR Congress has 11.
Mr Reddy, who lost the Chief Minister post after his party was routed in the Assembly polls held alongside the Lok Sabha election last year, has trashed the Speaker's rationale behind denying him the post and questioned how people's voices would be raised in the House if the only party in the Opposition is not given sufficient time. He also cited a Delhi example and said the AAP had given the BJP Opposition party status when the latter had just 3 members in the Assembly.
In his ruling on Mr Reddy's request, the Speaker said, "The eligibility for the position of Leader of Opposition is determined solely in accordance with constitutional provisions, legal mandates, and established precedents." Citing various rules to bolster his ruling, he said, "Accordingly, in the 175-member Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh, unless the largest party in opposition attains a minimum strength of 18 Members, it would be improper to consider the leader of such a party for recognition as the Leader of the Opposition purely on discretion."
The Speaker noted that Mr Reddy had approached the High Court, seeking a direction to the Speaker to designate him as the 'Leader of the Opposition'. "The fact is that his writ petition, as of today, is not even admitted by Hon'ble High Court. I am not surprised by the repeated malicious and vitriolic campaign being carried out by Sri Jagan Mohan Reddy," he said, criticising the YSR Congress chief.
The Speaker said Mr Reddy's allegations attributing motives to the Chair amount to breach of privilege and contempt of the House. "I have decided to treat his diatribe with the contempt it deserves. I am not sure if the House would tolerate any further, recurrence of such deplorable conduct."
Hitting back at the Speaker's decision, Mr Reddy said YSR Congress is the only party that sits in the Opposition in Andhra Assembly. "BJP, Jana Sena and TDP are together and they are ruling parties. And be it any number, the fact remains that we are 40 per cent vote share. We are the only party in the Opposition, if we are not given the recognition, then who is going to be the Opposition party? Once the party is recognised as the Opposition party, its leader is the Leader of the Opposition. The advantage is that Speaker must give (him/her) the mic and time on par with the Leader of the House."
"Only when the Opposition speaks up, it is given sufficient time, issues come up and the government takes corrective measures. If you are not going to do that, then you have nobody to speak as the Opposition party, you don't want them to voice out people's concerns, only the ruling party will speak, then when will the people's issues be placed in the House," he asked.
Citing the example of the Delhi Assembly after the 2015 polls, when AAP won 67 out of 70 seats, he said, "AAP had given the BJP Opposition party status when it had three MLAs in Delhi and there was a Leader of the Opposition."
Addressing the House on the issue, minister and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh said Parliament rules clearly define the criteria for the Opposition Party tag. "People of Andhra Pradesh decided that YSRCP should not get Opposition party status," he said.
