In Amaravati, the Telugu Desam Party stated that the YSRCP does not have enough members to be the opposition party in the State Assembly. Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister Payyavula Keshav said that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy cannot be the opposition leader unless his party has one-tenth of the total members in the house. He also mentioned that if Jagan becomes the opposition leader, he will receive a cabinet rank.
Keshav criticized Jagan by saying that people have already decided he will not work effectively as an opposition leader. He pointed out that Jagan had previously discussed the qualifications needed to be the leader of the opposition, questioning Jagan’s consistency in his statements.
Legislative Council member C Ramachandraiah stated that Jagan’s request for main opposition status with only 11 seats was strange and absurd. He questioned why Jagan had not provided a letter from 10 MLAs of his party to be recognized as the leader of the YSR Legislature Party by the Protem Speaker.
Ramachandraiah also mentioned that there is no rule or regulation requiring recognition of a leader of the main opposition with only 10 percent of seats. He clarified that comments allegedly made by Ayyanna Patrudu against Jagan were made before he became Speaker and should not be taken out of context.
