TDP to boycott AP Assembly Budget session; slams govt for 'undemocratic, oppressive' decisions

Amaravati: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on 18 May announced that it will boycott the Budget session of the AP state Assembly on 20 May in protest against the unilateral, undemocratic, and illogical decisions of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.

Decrying the government's attitude, the TDP said, "We have decided to boycott the Chief Minister's misrule but not the Assembly. The Parliament and all other states held their Budget sessions in March itself. At that time, there was no severity of the coronavirus cases. We asked Jagan Reddy to hold the session but he did not do it. Now, the second wave is very severe but the government is going ahead out of a constitutional obligation."

The decision to boycott the Budget session was taken at the Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) meeting presided over by TDP chief and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

TDP AP president K. Atchannaidu and former finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu announced this at a joint press conference. They, however, said that the TDLP would run a parallel mock Assembly simultaneously with the AP Assembly session in order to expose the failures and misdeeds of the Jagan Reddy regime. The CM failed to hold the Budget session when there were only 900 coronavirus cases and he is holding it at a time when the cases have reached 2.16 lakh, the TDP alleged.

Mr. Atchannaidu said the Central government and most other state governments were joining hands with Opposition parties in the fight against the epidemic. But, the AP CM did not care to respect the Opposition and did not hold an all-party meeting even once, he said.

He said the failure of the government had resulted in the death of over 109 people due to lack of oxygen supply at a critical time. "The Jagan regime did not take any steps to increase hospital infrastructure during the period between the first and second wave of infections. It was nothing but folly on the part of the government to propose Rs. 15,000 assistance for the last rites of COVID victims. That should be the last priority. Immediate steps should be taken to save the living people," he added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said that the YSRCP government came out with this one-day Budget session only out of a constitutional obligation but not to consult and hold a meaningful discussion with the Opposition party. Obviously, the ruling party would turn the Governor's address in the Assembly into a hymn aimed at singing the praise of the Chief Minister and his shallow decisions than to present facts about the state economy, he alleged. He further claimed that even if the TDP attend the session, the Chief Minister and his ministers would not give them any chance to speak in the House.