The main Opposition YSR Congress Party has charged Legislative Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao with behaving like a ruling Telugu Desam Party member in the House instead of protecting the interests of all members cutting across political lines.
“The Speaker is frequently going to the rescue of the ruling party Ministers and MLAs while denying opportunity to the Opposition to raise issues relating to the people,” YSRC legislature party secretary Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao alleged.
A delegation of the YSRC MLAs headed by YSRC Legislature Party's deputy leader Jyothula Nehru served no-confidence notice on the Speaker on Wednesday. The YSRC MLAs submitted the notice to Legislature secretary K. Satyanarayana Rao as the Speaker was not in the office and asserted that it had required strength to ensure that a debate was allowed on the no-trust motion in the House.
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The party was hopeful that the Speaker would allow the debate within two weeks. The YSRC MLA alleged that the Speaker was protecting the interests of the ruling party and denied opportunity to Opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to raise issues of immediate public importance including the call money-cum-sex racket in Vijayawada that rocked the State recently.
The Chair had also targeted party MLA R.K. Roja for insisting on a debate on the racket and suspended her from the service of the House for one year in spite of the fact that the rule position permitted suspension till the completion of the session in question.
The party took strong objection to the leakage of video clippings of the Assembly proceedings by the ruling TDP and inquired with Mr. Satyanarayana how the select video tapes were given to the TDP members.
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“The House has failed to protect its own property, the video tapes, which are leaked and doing rounds on the social media targeted Ms. Roja. The Speaker has to take the responsibility for the leakage,” Mr. Sujaya Krishna said adding that the Speaker had not given a clarification to repeated requests of the main Opposition to specify under which rule Ms. Roja had been suspended.
He asserted that the party would take a legal recourse in challenging the suspension of its member in violation of rules.