The Telugu Desam Party is learnt to have decided to boycott the state legislative assembly, not just for this budget session, commencing on Monday, but for the entire term of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
The decision to this effect was taken at the TDP politburo meeting held in Mangalagiri on Thursday. However, a final decision on attending the House would be taken at the TDLP meeting on Sunday.
According to the party sources, majority of the TDP leaders who attended the meeting wanted that the party boycott the assembly as the ruling YSR Congress party was not allowing democratic debates and not listening to what the opposition had to say on any subject of public concern.
“Under the leadership of Jagan Reddy, the AP Assembly has been turned into a 'Kuru Sabha,” the politburo felt.
The TDP, in any case, has only 19 MLAs in the assembly as four others – Vallabhaneni Vamsi, Karanam Balaram, Maddali Giridhar and Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar have already shifted loyalties to the YSRC, if not officially quitting the TDP.
Of the remaining 19, Visakhapatnam (north) MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao has not been taking part in the official meetings of the TDP and is more or less out of the party. So, his presence or absence in the assembly doesn’t make any difference the party.
Party president and Kuppam MLA N Chandrababu Naidu has already announced that he won’t be attending the House proceedings for the rest of the term and so, technically, only 17 MLAs of the TDP have to attend the session.
Of them, except four or five MLAs – like K Atchannaidu, Payyavula Kesav, Nimmala Rama Naidu, Anagani Satyaprasad and Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary, all the others are not very serious in attending the session regularly.
In any case, the TDP legislators have felt that there is hardly anything to do for them in the assembly, as Speaker Tammineni Sitaram will not give them a chance to speak and even if he does, the other YSRC MLAs and ministers would allow them to speak.
“So, for all practical purposes, four to five TDP MLAs have to attend the session regularly. There is no point in doing so. Instead, the party president suggested that they should go into people and earn their confidence in the next couple of years,” a TDP politburo member said.
In all probability, the TDP might prefer to boycott, rather than making half-hearted attempts to attend the session.