Lift curbs on media outfits, Naidu urges Thammineni

TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu has urged the State government to allow all the media organisations to cover the winter sessions of the legislature commencing from November 30 (Monday).

In a letter addressed to Assembly Speaker Thammineni Seetharam on Sunday, Mr. Naidu said the ‘media point’ outside the Assembly building that facilitates interaction of the leaders of various political parties with the media should also be restored and allowed to function as long as the legislature was in session.

A few vernacular media organisations had earlier been barred from entering the Assembly premises.

Stating that the media had a pivotal role to play by serving as a bridge between the government and the people, Mr. Naidu asserted that in a democracy, the governments were bound to follow certain ethics and rules.

“It is through the media that the people will get to know about the crucial discussions and debates taken up by the law-makers in the legislative bodies,” he pointed out, and sought to remind how the YSRCP government’s attempt to gag the media through G.O. 2430 in the past had come in for sharp criticism not only by the local but also national media.

“When media representatives are allowed in Parliament, why are they being restricted from entering the legislative bodies in the State?” he questioned.

“This is against the spirit of the Constitution,” Mr. Naidu observed.