No one is willing to give an inch in Andhra’s Disqualify Defectors vs Attend Assembly battle it seems. Now, YSRCP MLA Roja has gotten into the fray, and has asked that the Assembly Speaker must take action against YSRCP legislators who defected to the TDP. Roja said that her party was willing to attend the winter session of the Assembly as soon as the Speaker took action against the defectors.
Speaking to the media, actor turned politician Roja said it was not the opposition which was running away from reality, but the ruling party which has shifted its base from Hyderabad to Amaravati following the Cash for Vote scam.
Equating the House without opposition with NTR Trust Bhavan (TDP office), she added, "If the defectors are disqualified, we are ready to attend the Assembly proceedings. The Speaker should uphold the decorum of the Chair by keeping up best practices, and disqualify the turncoats immediately."
Rebutting the Speaker's claims that acting against the defectors is under the purview of the judiciary, she retorted, "The contention that the issue of disqualifying the defectors is in court cannot be a valid point as it is the Speaker who has to take the decision. On earlier occasions, he has said that the Chair is supreme and need not adhere to the verdict of even the apex court – that’s what he said when the court ruled in my favour after I was suspended for one year and the matter was challenged in a court of law.”
The opposition YSRCP is boycotting the winter session, demanding the disqualification of the MLAs who defected from their party to the ruling TDP - including four ministers, namely, Adinarayana Reddy, RV Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, N Amarnath Reddy and Bhuma Akhila Priya. And while the Assembly session started on Friday, Jagan Mohan Reddy is on a statewide 'Praja Sankalpa Padayatra'.
YSRCP has been demanding that the legislators be disqualified under Schedule 10 of the Constitution – also known as the anti-defection law. Under this law, an MLA or an MP who votes against the ‘whip’ will be disqualified from the House. A ‘whip’ is a party directive on which way the MLAs and MPs must vote – and anyone who goes against it will face action.