Denying mike is undemocratic: Jagan

Hyderabad,
Aug 26, 2014: 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MLA should be withdrawn forthwith,” he told reports after the House was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.