YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy forced his bitter rival and leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu to go on the defensive on the second day itself in the state assembly.
It began with the Telugu Desam Party members raising an objection to the ruling YSR Congress party not inviting the opposition for the nomination of Tammineni Sitaram for the post of assembly speaker.
“Though the ruling party has all the majority to choose the speaker, it has been the tradition that the opposition party to be invited for the nomination,” Naidu said.
Reacting strongly to Naidu’s observation, Jagan alleged Naidu of creating nuisance on a non-issue to gain political mileage.
“He doesn’t have to teach us the assembly traditions. Everybody has seen how Naidu government has trampled upon the democracy in the last term and how Speaker had given a go bye to the traditions in the last assembly. We want to honour all democratic norms,” he said.
Not stopping at that, Jagan recalled how Naidu had murdered democracy by purchasing 23 MLAs of YSRC and giving cabinet berths to four of them.
“He had even lured three of our party MPs. And he had to pay penalty for the same. The god and the people had punished him in a fitting way by giving only three MPs and 23 MLAs. They too got elected with meagre majority. At least now, Naidu should admit his mistake and behave in a dignified manner instead of making baseless charges,” he said.
Naidu tried to defend himself, saying it was unfortunate that Jagan had started attacking the opposition on the very first day.
“Defections were not new in politics. In fact, his father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy himself had defected from Reddy Congress to Indira Congress within four days,” he said.
Even before the opposition leader completed his remarks, the YSRC members raised a hue and cry. Jagan got up and lashed out at Naidu for recalling the past incidents.
“It is like a killer defending his murder saying several such murders took place in the past. If given an opportunity, I will recall what Naidu’s father-in-law N T Rama Rao had said about him in the past,” he said, leaving Naidu red-faced.
