Jagan Mohan Reddy seeks status of ‘Leader of Opposition’ in Assembly
VIJAYAWADA: YSRC president and former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has sought the 'principal opposition party' status for his party in the state Assembly and the Leader of the Opposition post for himself.
In a letter addressed to the Assembly Speaker here on Tuesday, Jagan Mohan Reddy pointed out that the YSRC secured 40 per cent vote share in the recent elections. Hence, he “owed a duty to the people of Andhra Pradesh to represent their concerns” on the floor of the Assembly.
He referred to a discussion in the public domain that he would not be designated as the Leader of the Opposition on the ground that the YSRC legislature party (MLAs) did not constitute 10 per cent of the strength of the Assembly (175).
The YSRC legislature party leader observed that the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the AP Assembly notified under Article 208 of Constitution of India did not prescribe any such mandatory percentage of seats for a political party to have its leader recognised as the Leader of Opposition.
“There is no such convention,” he said and quoted instances in both Parliament and the AP Legislature in the past. P. Upendra of TD was granted the position of LoP in the Lok Sabha in 1984 even though TD secured only 30 seats out of the total of 543 seats. P. Janardhan Reddy had been given the status of LoP in AP Assembly in 1994 even though INC secured only 26 seats out of a total of 294 seats, he pointed out.
Jagan Mohan Reddy pointed out that it was a convention to give the opportunity to the Leader of the Assembly to take oath of office to become the member of the august House followed by the Leader of the Opposition and the ministers and the MLAs in the same order. However, the procedure followed on June 21 was different. First, the CM as the Leader of the Assembly was administered the oath of office, followed by the council of ministers. It was only later that he was called to take the oath of office, the YSRC chief pointed out.
This, he said, gave him an impression that a decision was already taken not to grant him the status of Leader of Opposition.
Quoting the provisions of AP Payment of Salaries and Pension and Removal of Disqualifications Act, 1953, he said there was no ambiguity vis-a-vis the claim that the YSRCLP is the principal and the only opposition party in the Assembly and its leader ought to be the Leader of the Opposition duly recognised by the Assembly Speaker.