Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram on Thursday alleged that courts were giving directions to the government in matters of policy.
The outburst, in Tirupati, came in the backdrop of the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government suffering setbacks with the Andhra Pradesh High Court annulling several of its decisions in recent verdicts.
"If courts are dictating orders that you do this, you do that, you stop this, you go there... what are people for, elections for, votes for, MLAs and MPs for? Why do we need a Legislative Assembly? Why elect a Chief Minister or a Speaker? Why all this?" Sitaram asked, addressing mediapersons.
He said intellectuals should debate over this.
"We are going ahead with all respect to the Constitution. If our (governments) decisions are wrong, people will defeat us in the elections," he added.
The Speaker lashed out at the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for not passing the Appropriation Bill in the Legislative Council.
"Will you stall a Money Bill? You have nothing to do, so you are doing such nasty things," he charged, adding, "The government could not pay salaries to its staff for June due to non-passage of the Appropriation Bill that clears the state's annual budget."
The Speaker told the TDP that they had a 'responsibility to the people.’
Last month, the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council was adjourned sine dine without adopting any Bills as members of the ruling YSRCP and the opposition TDP virtually came to blows in the House.
The TDP, which enjoys a majority in the 58-member Council, did not let the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Bill, 2020 be passed.
In the process, the Appropriation Bill that clears the way for the state's annual Budget also got stalled.
PTI inputs