The newly- elected Speaker, Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, pitched for the early location of Assembly and Secretariat of Andhra Pradesh in that State as he did not want them to function from here.
In his thanks giving speech after members complimented him on his election as the Speaker, Mr. Rao said he did not want the Assembly and government to function in exile from here. “The State in one place and Assembly at another was not good”.
“Let us have the Assembly and Secretariat in our own State even if they were established with minimum facilities”, he said. A couple of members also raised the demand for Assembly and Secretariat be located in Andhra Pradesh before the Speaker spoke his mind. G. Srinivas Reddy of TDP was firm that the Assembly was shifted to the State as early as possible though Hyderabad was the common capital of two States for 10 years. He referred to the poor facilities to members and Ministers in the present Assembly complex, necessitating early migration.
Another TDP MLA Thota Trimurtulu said the conditions in the House were insulting to the members. He added that a congested premises was allotted to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly with a membership of 175 but a smaller House of 119 members representing Telangana got a spacious accommodation.
Later interacting with media persons, Dr. Rao urged members and parties to raise people-oriented and State-oriented issues in the House instead of trying to gain upper hand over one another on other political matters. He said the ‘new assignment’ brought back 1983 memories when he first became an MLA. He was feeling thrilled and fortunate to be the Speaker of the same House. He was feeling privileged that he was unanimously elected for the post. “Speaker should speak less and allow others to speak more”
He announced that there were 90 first time members and orientation classes would be organised to them on rules and how to behave in the House. He advised the members to speak relevantly and have command over the subject as people all over the State would be watching them. Dr. Rao said he was not in favour of guillotining demands on budgetary grants or postponing questions. He would either try to convince the members or control to ensure that the House functioned smoothly.
