Leader of the Opposition and YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said his party will boycott the budget session of the Assembly beginning from March 5.
“There is no question of us (YSRCP legislators) attending the Assembly session till those elected on the party ticket and crossed over to the TDP are disqualified,” he said in a conversation with The Hindu on the 90th day of his Praja Sankalpa Yatra at Voletivaripalem in Prakasam district on Saturday.
‘Mockery of democracy’
“There is no point in attending the session when the Chandrababu Naidu government goes to the extent of inducting the YSRCP legislators into the Cabinet in violation of the constitutional provisions and by making a mockery of democracy,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said, even as his walkathon passed through the dusty lanes of villages in the agrarian Kandukur Assembly segment.
Throwing down the gauntlet to Mr. Naidu, he said, “if the Chief Minister has faith in democracy, he should ask the turncoats to resign and fight the byelections on the TDP ticket.”
“Our boycott will lead to a nation-wide debate on the violation of the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
The YSRCP stand to boycott the Assembly session earlier had been approved by a majority of the people who had participated in the opinion poll conducted by a media organisation, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
Cash-for-vote scam
Referring to the cash-for-vote scam involving Mr. Naidu, the Leader of the Opposition lamented that no action had been taken in the case so far.
Accusing Mr. Naidu of “managing the media” to cover-up his “misdeeds,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the level of corruption had peaked in the State.
“The media has not been proactive enough to expose the irregularities in every sphere of activity, including sale of sand, liquor, and land for capital,” he said.
A few tobacco farmers met him and expressed their concern over fall in productivity and non-remunerative price, not just for tobacco but for all crops, including bengal gram, extensively cultivated in the district.
Responding to their plight, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that his party, on coming to power, would set up a market stabilisation fund.
