Amaravati, Aug 16 (IANS) The Monsoon Session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature, beginning on Monday, is likely to discuss key issues including the impact of the El Nino phenomenon, farmers’ issues, and the progress of Amaravati capital city works.
Governor S. Abdul Nazeer has summoned both Houses of the state Legislature for the monsoon session.
YSR Congress Party, the only opposition party, has already decided to continue its boycott of the Assembly as a mark of protest over denial of Leader of Opposition status to the party.
The party, however, will raise the issues of public interest in the Legislative Council. It has decided to raise the issue of alleged irregularities in Mega DSC-2025 for recruitment of teachers.
Speaker Chintakayala Ayyanna Patraudu on Sunday said all arrangements have been made for the session.
Patraudu has said that if YSRCP members attend the session and raise public issues, he would take the responsibility of ensuring replies from the ministers concerned.
He stated that it is the responsibility of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and other YSRCP MLAs to attend the session. He said they should come to the House and raise questions.
Last week, the Speaker questioned why salaries should be paid to YSRCP MLAs who decided not to attend Assembly sessions. He stated that legislators are elected to discuss public issues and raise the concerns of their constituencies in the Assembly.
The Speaker said MLAs who failed to attend Assembly sessions should not be paid salaries. He suggested that the matter should be discussed in the Parliament and that appropriate legislation should be enacted.
The YSRCP has been boycotting the Assembly for nearly two years, demanding the Leader of Opposition (LoP) status.
YSRCP President and former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, on August 12, stated that there is no point in YSRCP members attending the Assembly session without LoP status.
He alleged that the coalition government led by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is unwilling to give Leader of the Opposition status to the YSRCP to gag the voice of the Opposition.
Addressing a meeting of party legislators, Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the MLCs to be vigilant and raise issues of public interest and highlight the failures of the Naidu government in the Legislative Council.
“As we have strength in the Council, we should be the voice of the people and highlight the issues we have taken up, which include irregularities in DSC on which we had taken up 10 types of protests over the past 74 days, placing all evidence to establish our viewpoint,” he said.
“We exposed leakage and outsourcing scandals, irregularities in sports quota, changes in Government Orders and demanded a CBI enquiry into the involvement of Education Minister Nara Lokesh, who is the son of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu,” he said.
The YSRCP chief told the party legislators that they have to raise the issues of fees reimbursement and ‘Vasathi Deevena’ as students are badly affected due to the pending bills for 13 quarters accumulating to over Rs 9,100 crore and Rs 3,300 crore respectively.
–IANS
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