While Assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao’s is hell bent on conducting the budget session from Andhra Pradesh capital region even by hiring private premises, the opposition YSRC said no to such an idea. The YSRC said it was opposed to splurging taxpayers’ money ad hoc arrangements.
Speaker has been trying to shift the Assembly to capital region, which incidentally falls in home district Guntur, for at past six months. First he thought constructing a temporary assembly to hold the last monsoon session. Later it was planned to hold at least winter session. Now Speaker Kodela is scouting for a premises like KL University to hold the Assembly session. Because, the government which is planning to take up construction of core capital immediately, may not give clearance to build another temporary structure for Assembly. Already the state government is spending on ad hoc construction of secretariat.
Sources close to speaker revealed that the speaker was planning to get CM Naidu’s approval for conducting the session symbolically either in Nagarjujan University or privately run KL University or in a resort. But, the opposition YSR is not in favor of conducting the House in rented premises.
“Holding Assembly session at resorts and private buildings will bring down the sanctity and prestige of the coveted House. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is treating the State as his fiefdom and Assembly is his court. It is very demeaning that the TDP government is contemplating to hold the ensuing budget session at a resort or at a private place bringing down the dignity of the August house. Naidu is obsession for temporary arrangements is crossing all limits,” party MLA G Srikanth Reddy remarked.
The YSRC legislator alleged that Chandrababu Naidu had become a monarch and had thrown the democratic principle to the winds with his tentative decisions, he said.
“Such a extravagant decision will put burden on taxpayers. Legislators, who should guard against the wasteful expenditure of public money should not indulge in the very activities, they are supposed to oppose. One side the government put on hold every recruitment and rugularization of contract workers on hold on the pretext that it has no money, on the other the same government , without any hesitation, spend on hundreds of crore on temporary arrangements,” he said
The opposition party asked the speaker to call off his attempts to shift the Assembly to a private premises, when a decent location in Hyderabad is available free of cost.
” We have been constitutionally assured by the parliament to use the Hyderabad Assembly for ten years. There is no hurry. We request the speaker and the government against spending tax payers’ money to satisfy whims and fancies of some individuals,” Srikanth Reddy.
