YSR Congress Walks Out Over Bills Passed Sans Debate

The Opposition YSR Congress Party staged a walkout from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on the fourth day of the monsoon session today alleging that the government had passed nine key bills without a full debate.

At the behest of their chief and Leader of the Opposition Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the YSRCP members staged a strong protest at the Speaker's podium. They shouted slogans against the treasury benches and sought a chance to speak on the bills.

Jagan expressed discontent at Speaker Siva Prasad Rao disallowing them from speaking. He alleged that the treasury benches were trying to bulldoze the lone Opposition party and pass the bills at their whims and fancies.

"How can the House go against the norms by passing the bills immediately after presenting them in the House without a debate?" he asked.

The Speaker however announced that the bills had been passed amid protests by the YSRCP members, and denied them a reply. With this, the YSRCP members walked out of the House shouting slogans that the House was resorting to a dictatorial attitude.

"The bills were introduced on the penultimate day of the five-day session. The whole process of introducing the bill has been reduced to a farce. We wanted a longer session of at least 15 days so that the issues could be discussed threadbare. But the government wanted to keep the session short to scuttle any debate on the bills," Jagan said.

Later, MLAs Roja, Kakani Govardhan Reddy and others slammed the government for its high-handed behavior.