Naidu rushes to governor to cut Jagan to size

HYDERABAD: Apparently with a mind to expose YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s actual strength in the Assembly, opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu urged governor ESL Narasimhan on Saturday to convene the Assembly session immediately to discuss the no-trust motion for which his party had given notice to the speaker.As the new speaker did not make any mention of the notice and adjourned the House sine die after the election of the speaker and deputy speaker, Chandrababu Naidu, along with his party MLAs, rushed to the Raj Bhavan and submitted a petition seeking a debate on the no-trust motion.According to sources, Naidu is insisting on the motion to cut Jagan Mohan Reddy to size. As there will be no secret ballot again as in the case of speaker’s election and the speaker will have to press for a division, Jagan loyalists will face the same difficulty again: they cannot go against the party whip and vote for someone else without running the risk of losing their membership of the House.In the memorandum to the governor, the TDP protested against the “authoritarian manner and undemocratic behaviour” of the government and the speaker in the House.“The TDP gave notice for no-confidence motion this morning one hour before the commencement of the session.The Speaker is bound to put the motion to the Assembly for granting leave of the House and the speaker should allot time. It is unfortunate that the deputy speaker, without following this clearly laid down procedure, adjourned the House sine die and left the House without even proposing the motion before the House for grant of leave. This is nothing but willful violation of the rules of business,” the TDP leader said and urged the governor to advise the speaker to reconvene the House as it was binding on his part to move the no-trust motion.Speaking to reporters later, Naidu, as if trying to turn the tables on Jagan, wondered whether the YSR Congres s leader had compromised with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other leaders in Delhi and agreed to support the ruling party.“Jagan repeatedly said that the state government was at his mercy. I do not know why he showed mercy to the ruling Congress and why the MLAs loyal to him voted in favour of Congress’ candidate. If YSR Congress is against the government, its supporting MLAs should have voted for the TDP candidate and should have pulled down the government,” Naidu contended.If Jagan Mohan Reddy had enough strength to pull down the government he should parade his MLAs before the governor and inform him that they were withdrawing support to the government, Naidu said, reiterating his challenge to Jagan.Naidu claimed that his party had been relentlessly fighting against the Congress and gave notice for no-trust motion to expose the government’s failure to protect farmers; interests.