VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress MLAs led by Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy on Tuesday visited the Assembly under construction in Velagapudi.
Later, speaking to reporters, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy and Alla Ramakrishna Reddy pointed out that there was no ‘peshi’ for the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly building.
“It reflects the government’s intentions,” they alleged.
The chamber allotted to the Leader of the Opposition was also cramped, they said.
“Where can the Leader of the Opposition meet his MLAs to discuss subjects to be discussed in the House?” they asked.
Within the available time, the party would raise the problems faced by people in the Assembly, they said.
Stating that construction of the Interim Government Complex started with an estimated cost of ₹220 crore, they said the cost escalated to ₹1,200 crore.
They wondered why the government should spend public money without a second thought on temporary Secretariat or Assembly. It could have gone in for permanent structure itself with that money, they said.
To a question on why party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy was staying in Hyderabad, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy said Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, though did not shift, was accessible to people for 20 days in a month.
“On the other hand, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu hurriedly shifted to Vijayawada because of the cash-for-vote case,” he alleged.
Kuna Raghupathi, Gopireddi Srinivas Reddy, Anil Kumar Yadav, Mutyala Naidu and Md. Mustaf were present.
Their visit assumes significance as the Assembly session is likely to start from March 1. This is the second time the YSR Congress is visiting the Secretariat.
‘Parallel system’
In November last, the YSR Congress MLAs met the Chief Minister seeking release of funds for the development of their respective constituencies. But they had to return “empty-handed” with the Chief Minister categorically saying there was no budgetary allocation for the Assembly Constituency Development Programme (ACDP).
The YSRC MLAs had been complaining that the government was not releasing funds for the programmes/work suggested by them. They alleged that a parallel system was being run with the government involving TDP constituency in-charges in every programme.
