Walkout by YSR Congress raises doubt in AP Assembly

August 27, 2014 03:19 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 06:15 pm IST - HYDERABAD

YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and party MLAs who attended the Assembly sessions with black badges in protest against the alleged partisan attitude of Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao in Hyderabad on Aug.26, 2014.

YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and party MLAs who attended the Assembly sessions with black badges in protest against the alleged partisan attitude of Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao in Hyderabad on Aug.26, 2014.

A walkout by YSR Congress in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly in protest against imposition of restrictions on crop loan waiver led to an unusual scene as all but the deputy leader of the party Jothula Nehru left but he remained to question the government seeking certain clarifications.

The Legislative Affairs Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu reacted to the situation during question hour stating that there was no such tradition in Legislative history when a party staged a walkout but its members still remained to participate in the business on the same subject. He wondered if there was a tussle in YSR Congress between its leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and Mr. Nehru.

Mr. Ramakrishnudu pointed out the presence of Mr. Nehru even as the Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao also asked Mr. Nehru to raise his point only after announcing that he did not walkout. Mr. Rao also said it was left to Mr. Nehru to walkout or remain in the House but Mr. Ramakrishnudu insisted that the YSR Congress deputy leader be allowed to raise the point only when he clarified that he was not party to the protest.

Mr. Nehru finally left but defended staying back because the Agriculture Minister P. Pulla Rao who was supposed to answer the question was not seen on the TV screen outside the House. He said he returned to the House imagining that the question on crop loan was over and the next one was taken up. Interestingly, some other YSR Congress members also kept going out and entering the House in the meantime much to the amusement of treasury benches.

Mr. Jagan led the walkout earlier highlighting that the government had a burden of Rs. 1.02 lakh crore towards crop and DWCRA loans waiver as discussed at the State level bankers committee meeting but it was trying to wriggle out of the situation by making a budgetary allocation of only Rs. 5,000 crore. The government was also silent about Rs. 24,000 crore interest component on loan.

In his reply to the question, the Agriculture Minister said 42.63 lakh farmers would be covered by debt waiver scheme. Though the scheme was meant for loans borrowed up to December 31 last year, it would also cover repayments and rescheduling of loans till March this year. The Minister’s written reply to the House said the banks were in the process of submitting the quantum of amount to clear the loans.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.