Vijayawada: Sparks flew in the AP Assembly with members of the treasury and Opposition benches accusing each other of not upholding the traditions of the House.
TD members said the YSRC didn’t follow the tradition of consulting the Opposition before finalising the name of the Speaker. The YSRC said TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu had not accompanied Mr Reddy, the leader of the House, while escorting Speaker Tammineni Sitharam to the chair.
TD MLA and former minister K. Atchennaidu said it was unfortunate that the YSRC did not consult them before finalising the Speaker’s name. He said when the TD was in the power in 2014, the party had reached out to the YSRC though it had a majority. He reminded that the then ministers had approached YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with Mr Kodela Siva Prasad Rao’s name.
He said it was deplorable that Mr Naidu was not asked to accompany Mr Reddy to invite Speaker Sitharam to take his chair.
To this, YSRC MLAs hit back saying the pro-tem Speaker had invited both the ruling and Opposition parties leaders, and Mr Naidu had chosen not to go. Instead, Mr Atchennaidu on behalf of the Opposition had attended the ceremony.
Ruling party members booed Mr Naidu when his voice was not audible when he stood up as the leader of Opposition to congratulate the new Speaker.
