The opening day of the monsoon session of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Thursday was marred by frequent interruptions by the TDP legislators.
The short discussion on ‘Decentralisation - Administrative Reforms’ witnessed sharp exchange of words between the YSRCP and TDP MLAs.
Minister for Finance and Legislative Affairs Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged that most of the TDP leaders had purchased lands even before the decision on location of capital was taken and showed slides of G.O. Ms. No. 1 related to enactment of the A.P. CRDA Act in January 2015 and Cabinet meetings that took place in Hyderabad during June-December 2014.
TDP MLA Payyavula Keshav rebutted the statement by the Finance Minister saying that he and his family members had bought lands after the then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu made a statement in the Assembly on the location of the capital.
The YSRCP MLAs countered his statement and asked him to reveal the date on which Mr. Naidu made the statement.
Mr. Keshav then said he would hand over the properties if the YSRCP proved that he had bought lands before the capital announcement was made.
Later, the TDP MLAs stormed into the well and Speaker Thammineni Seetharam summoned the marshals. The TDP MLAs took objection to it and targeted the chief marshal and other marshals. Later, they staged a walkout.
Initiating the discussion, Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy traced the historic aspects of the State and how Rayalaseema got a raw deal. He explained in detail Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s vision of decentralisation which did not mean just the three capitals but taking administration closer to the people.
Decentralisation was taken up in a bid to avoid development in a single area like in Hyderabad, he said.
MLA Kodali Nani (Venkateswara Rao) said the decentralisation policy was being favoured by people of all the regions as was proved in the elections to the local bodies, Assembly and Lok Sabha after 2019, and that the TDP was raking up a non-issue in the name of Amaravati agitation.
