YSRCP Monday staged a walkout during the Governor’s address on the first day of the Budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly demanding principal Opposition party status.

Former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was present at the House initially after proceedings began and Governor S Abdul Nazeer began his address at the joint sitting of the members of the Assembly and Legislative Council. YSRCP members tried to disrupt his speech by raising slogans of ‘Save Democracy’ and demanding recognition as the main Opposition party before YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led the walkout after 11 minutes.

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Reddy has been skipping the Assembly ever since he took oath in June last year. The YSRCP has only 11 MLAs in the 175-member Assembly and under current norms, a party is required to win 10 per cent of the seats to qualify for the Leader of the Opposition status. However, YSRCP has maintained that since it is the only Opposition party in the Assembly it should be given the status. Recently, the TDP has pointed out that he is liable to get disqualified from the House if he remains absent for more than 60 days without informing the Speaker.

Criticising the YSRCP and calling their behaviour “disgraceful”, deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan said disrupting the Governor’s address will not fetch them the Opposition status. He said “Fix yourselves… you won’t get Opposition status in these five years.” He assured that the YSRCP would be allocated time in proportion to their strength in the Assembly.

YSRCP MLC Botsa Satyanarayana said, “There are only two wings in the House, the coalition parties on one side in the treasury benches and on the other, YSRCP, which would be the natural choice for Opposition party status. We expressed our demand during the Governor’s address but there was no response. A democracy cannot function without an Opposition which is the voice of the people. There is no other option for the government other than conceding to our demand.

The Governor outlined the various initiatives of the government including its focus on “Speed of doing business” instead of just “Ease of doing business.” Under this initiative, over 800 land allotments were successfully executed across 4700 acres attracting Rs78,000 crore in investment and creating potential for 48,789 jobs.

“Andhra Pradesh is undergoing significant demographic transitions which include a steep decline in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), a rapidly aging population, and the erosion of traditional joint family systems, each with far-reaching implications. The government is committed to handling the cascading effects of a shrinking workforce, aging population, and changing family dynamics by launching a policy on demographic management, “said the Governor, while referring to the government’s decision to scrap the two-child norm for contesting in local body polls.