YSR Congress leader and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday filed a petition in the state high court seeking a direction to the state Assembly Speaker to grant him the status of Leader of Opposition in the House.
Jagan, in his petition, argued that the opposition party having the largest number of members in Parliament after the ruling party is entitled to the status of main opposition party and he will be appointed as Leader of the Opposition.
“Since there is no opposition party except YSRCP in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, YSRCP should be given the status of main opposition party and hence, I should be given the post of Leader of Opposition,” he asserted.
Jagan alleged that the Andhra Pradesh Assembly was not following parliamentary practice.
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“I wrote to the speaker, Ayana Patrudu, but I have not received a response from him,” he said.
On June 24, Jagan wrote to the Speaker requesting that he be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition and his party as the primary opposition party.
“The law says that the party with the most number of seats among the opposition parties should be recognised as the primary opposition party,” Jagan argued.
He asserted that there is no law stating that 10 per cent seats are required to achieve primary opposition status, adding that such a practice is not followed in the National Assembly or state assemblies.
Jagan said it was against tradition to have him take oath as an assembly member after the recent oath-taking of ministers.
He alleged that the ruling NDA alliance of TDP, BJP and Janasena had already decided not to give him the post of Leader of Opposition.
“The ruling alliance and the speaker have already shown enmity towards me. A video has gone viral in which the speaker is saying that I should be beaten to death,” Jagan said.
“In this situation, we have no chance of having a voice in Parliament. Being recognised as the main opposition party will only enable us to voice the problems of the people in Parliament.”
