YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s letter to state assembly speaker Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, demanding Leader of the Opposition (LoP) status, is being widely debated on social media and in political circles.
In his letter, Jagan not only demanded LoP status but also made an interesting allegation against the speaker and the Telugu Desam Party government.
He claimed that he was deliberately called to take his oath as a member only after all the cabinet ministers.
“As per the norms, a Leader of the Opposition should be given the chance to take the oath after the leader of the House, that is the chief minister. But I was called only after the cabinet ministers. This clearly shows that the government or pro-tem speaker has already decided not to give LoP status to me,” Jagan alleged.
Former MLC and senior leader C. Ramachandraiah raised an objection to Jagan’s contention.
He pointed out that Jagan had not submitted any letter to the pro-tem speaker, stating that he was unanimously elected as the YSRC legislature party leader by the remaining 10 MLAs of the party.
“Have you been elected as the floor leader of your party? If so, when? In that case, have you submitted any such letter to the pro-tem speaker? Without any such letter, how can the speaker acknowledge you as the leader of the YSRC legislature party, let alone decide on the LoP status?” he asked.
Inquiries revealed that although Jagan had held a meeting with MLAs and MLCs, they had not adopted any formal resolution electing Jagan as the YSRC legislature party leader or floor leader in the assembly.
Ramachandraiah pointed out that even though Jagan was not formally elected as the YSRC legislature party leader, the pro-tem speaker had called him for oath-taking after the cabinet ministers only because he had previously held the CM post.
“Otherwise, he would have been called for oath-taking as an ordinary MLA,” he said.
Regarding Jagan’s argument that there is no rule in the Constitution requiring an opposition party to have 10% of the total strength of the House to get the LoP status, Ramachandraiah asked whether there is any such rule that the LoP status can be given even if the opposition doesn’t have 10% of the seats.