YSRCP stages walkout

Vijayawada : The first day of the AP Assembly budget session witnessed chaos as 11 YSRCP MLAs, led by former Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, staged a walkout after protesting for 11 minutes during Governor S Ab-dul Nazeer’s address. They raised slogans demanding recognition of YSR Congress as the Opposition party.

Following the protest, Jagan announced that the YSRCP MLAs would boycott the Assembly since the government had refused to accord him the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) status. Addressing the media, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Botsa Satyanarayana argued that the Assembly had only two sides: the ruling alliance led by the TDP and the Opposition YSRCP. He claimed that it was their rightful demand to se-cure the LoP position.

Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and Ministers K Parthasarathy and K Atchannaidu countered these claims. Pawan Kalyan accused the YSRCP of misleading people, stating that their protest was a strategy to avoid dis-qualification.

As per the Assembly rules, members absent for 60 consecu-tive days face disqualification. He asserted that the YSRCP lacked the re-quired numbers, with Jana Sena being the second-largest party in the As-sembly.

The Assembly Secretariat later clarified that a joint session does not count as a working day unless conducted by the Speaker. Thus, YSRCP MLAs' attendance would not be recorded, leaving uncertainty over their participation on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, APCC president Y S Sharmila criticised Jagan for walking out after 11 minutes, arguing that questioning the government does not re-quire LoP status. She urged the YSRCP to take their legislative role seri-ously or resign from the Assembly. The political standoff continues, with the fate of YSRCP’s participation in the Assembly hanging in the balance.