Hypocrisy unlimited was on display at the Andhra Pradesh assembly on Wednesday. Telugu Desam MLAs and MLCs protested at the main gate of the Assembly against the suspension of three party legislators – Atcham Naidu, Butchaiah Chowdhury and Rama Naidu – for obstructing the proceedings of the House on Tuesday. They had entered into an argument over the promises made by Jaganmohan Reddy during his election campaign. Jagan denied having made any promise as mentioned by the TDP MLAs.
Nara Lokesh who is Chandrababu Naidu’s son tweeted about how the suspension of legislators who were fighting for public issues was unfair and undemocratic. At the risk of sounding like whataboutery, Lokesh seemed to have forgotten the conduct of the TDP during the five years it was in power.
While the suspension for the entire session is most certainly, a harsh disciplinary measure, the Speaker during the TDP regime had suspended YSRCP MLA Roja for an entire year in December 2015 for making comments against Naidu, then the chief minister.
If the question is about being undemocratic, what could be more undemocratic and unfair than getting 23 MLAs of the YSRCP to switch camps and make four of them ministers in his cabinet, in complete violation of the anti-defection law. Neither the Speaker who looked the other way nor the Governor who did not object to the swearing-in of the four defectors as ministers covered themselves with glory in this episode.
The larger problem is that the YSRCP is showing itself to be no different from the previous regime, almost resorting to tit for tat. Intolerance to an opposing view is what binds both the TDP and the YSRCP together.
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