Denying mike is undemocratic: Jagan

Demanding the State Assembly to reverse the action against three YSR Congress members, the Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said they will not hesitate to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker if the proceedings are conducted in a one-sided way gagging the voice the main Opposition party.

“May be for the first time in the history of a parliamentary democracy, the Leader of Opposition was denied mike to express protest and to mention the reasons for his Party to walk out. Such conduct is not in the best interests of the Chair and the suspension of two MLAs and the privileges motion moved against another MLA should be withdrawn forthwith,” he told reports after the House was adjourned.

If the Chair does not consider the requests of Opposition, which is the voice of the people, we will not hesitate to move a no-trust motion, but we expect that the situation will not come to such a pass and hope the proceedings will run as per the rules. As we have 40 % vote share, time should be allotted in the same ratio, if not more, as we are the only opposition Party in the House.

The House is being run like a party affair and as a Leader of Opposition when I was speaking on the budget allocations, the frequency of interruptions was very high and in the 2.5 hours I spoke over 1.06 minutes were taken away by interruptions and switching the mike off. The ruling party has been giving wrong data on this count but our party leaders have tracked the data of the assembly proceedings minute-by-minute.

The rule book clearly says that six days shall be allocated for debate on budget and eight days for voting on demands for grants, but the TDP has reduced the budget discussion drastically and is hell-bent on throttling the voice of the Opposition, he said.

“Despite severe interruptions and numerous occasions of switching off the mike, my plea to the Chair that I want to express protest fell on deaf ears and this is a scar on the democratic institution. Even during my speech, I did not deviate from the subject and only spoke on the issues of public interest which include the scanty allocations for loan waiver and the mike went off. Even when I urged the Chair to permit me to conclude my budget speech, he did not yield and this is not fair on his part.

For the sycophants of treasury benches, mike was given to speak on non-issues which include criticizing YSR. If this is the manner in which the proceedings are conducted we will be forced to take the extreme step of moving a motion against the Speaker,” he said.  

The telecast rights are also given by the TDP government to its friendly media which has been projected only the view point of the ruling party and the treasury benches are playing to the gallery which the channel is blowing it up.

The TDP government is setting a wrong precedent in gagging the voice of opposition. It is not allowing the main opposition to vent its feelings in the House on one hand and telecasting only news, speeches and remarks that are in its favour. This trend should change and TDP should learn how to respect the Opposition and avoid self boasting and Opposition bashing, he said.