The scrapping of the Legislative Council as proposed by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is not possible in the present political climate, said Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Addressing the media at the party office in Mangalagiri here on Friday, Mr. Naidu recalled that when the Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh was scrapped in the past, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rejected a resolution sent by the Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao for the first time. The Andhra Pradesh Council was scrapped only when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister, when a resolution was sent by NTR for the second time. Mr. Naidu said that without the Centre’s, support the Council could not be scrapped.
He said that the term of Mr. Jagan would in all probability come to an end before the process to scrap the Legislative Council was completed.
Mr. Naidu said the people of the State need not in anyway worry because the Telugu Desam Party would revive the Council as soon as it was elected to power.
Expenses
While claiming that Andhra Pradesh was poor and could not afford the Legislative Council, the State Government had hired the most expensive advocate for a fee of ₹5 crore and paid ₹1 crore as advance to fight writ petitions filed by Amaravati farmers in court. Other top lawyers have been intimidated not to represent poor farmers, Mr. Naidu alleged and asked where the State was heading.
Referring to Mr Jagan’s claim that the word “capital” did not exist in the Indian Constitution, Mr. Naidu asked why the Chief Minister had introduced a Bill for the establishment of three Capitals in the State.
Mr. Naidu said that the Chief Minister had cited his running the government at Visakhapatnam in the aftermath of Hudhud cyclone. But there was no comparison between the two. While officials concerned came to Visakhapatnam to assist him, Mr. Jagan was trying to shift the entire Secretariat. “I worked in a bus in which I slept for 10 days,” Mr. Naidu said.
The case was the same when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ran the government from Ooty. There was no attempt to shift the Secretariat, Mr. Naidu pointed out.
