Andhra assembly passes resolution against Leader of Opposition

Amaravati, March 24 : The Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Friday passed a resolution condemning the behaviour of Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in the house.

At the end of the day-long acrimony over challenges and counter-challenges by the ruling and opposition parties, the House passed a resolution in the absence of lone opposition YSR Congress Party legislator.

Following the walkout by the YSR Congress over what it called the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) running away from accepting its challenges, the house took up a resolution moved by Legislative Affairs Minister Y. Ramakrishnudu.

Members of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and those who had defected to the ruling party from YSR Congress launched a bitter attack on Jaganmohan Reddy.

Ramakrishnudu even branded him a "psycho", remarking that people are hanging their head in shame for having a person who illegally amassed Rs 1 lakh crore and who spent 16 months in jail as Leader of Opposition.

The Minister said his attitude reflects the criminal background and "factionist" family he comes from.

Stating that the existing rules are not sufficient to deal with such a person, Ramakrishnudu called for framing new rules and underlined the need for speedy trial of the YSRCP chief in corruption cases.

He also mooted the suggestion that the money lost by the house due to disruption caused by a member should be recovered from him.

The trouble began in the morning as the TDP insisted that Jaganmohan Reddy accept the challenge by Agriculture Minister Pulla Rao, who had Thursday dared him to prove his allegations in Agri Gold case.

Jaganmohan Reddy had alleged that Pulla Rao's wife purchased properties of Agri Gold even as the investigations were on against the company for cheating depositors.

Pulla Rao had challenged that if the allegations against him are proved he will quit politics and wanted Jaganmohan Reddy to announce that if the allegations are not proved, he will quit.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu Friday asked Jaganmohan Reddy to accept the challenge but the Leader of Opposition wanted an opportunity to produce evidence against the minister in the house.

Speaker Kodela Sivaprasad Rao also gave a ruling on the issue. Pointing out the Chief Minister has gone on record that if the allegations against the minister were true, he would sack him, the Speaker suggested to the opposition to either take back the allegations or face the probe.

Jaganmohan Reddy however alleged that the ruling party was preventing him from producing the evidence, saying it doesn't want the facts to come out in the case as it is afraid this will expose Pulla Rao and other leaders.

He also wondered how the Speaker can give ruling on a challenge thrown by the ruling party and not on the challenge by the opposition.

The Leader of Opposition said he has already thrown the challenge to the TDP to make the 21 MLAs who crossed over from his party to the TDP resign or disqualify them and face the elections.

He also said Chandrababu Naidu was also keeping mum on his challenge to prove whether the voice in the audio record surfaced in cash-for-vote scam in Telangana was not his voice.