Andhra Pradesh Assembly session from Friday

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Assembly session is all set to begin on June 21. On the opening day, all the MLAs who won the recent elections will be sworn in. The Governor will nominate the senior member among the elected MLAs as the Protem Speaker, who will administer the oath to the new legislators. The Assembly will continue on the next day as well.

The Assembly comprises 175 MLAs, with 135 from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), 21 from Jana Sena, 11 from Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), and eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The alliance between TDP, Jana Sena and BJP resulted in a combined total of 164 MLAs, all of whom are expected to take their oaths on the first day.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, the election of the Speaker will be scheduled. The Telugu Desam Party has reportedly decided on Narsipatnam MLA Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu as their nominee for the post of the Speaker. The million dollar question is whether the 11 MLAs from the YSRCP will attend the session. Before the beginning of the session, the YSRCP needs to elect its floor leader. However, there has been no official announcement regarding the election of the leader from the headquarters of the YSRCP. Since the YSRCP did not secure opposition status the question is who will be chosen by party president Jagan Mohan Reddy as the leader of YSR Congress Legislature Party.

Moreover, the longstanding animosity between the TDP and the YSRCP raises questions about potential confrontations in the assembly. This tension has led to doubts about whether Jagan will assume the role of the YSRCP leader or delegate it to a senior party member like Punganur MLA Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy. Uncertainty also looms large over whether Jagan and YSRCP MLAs will attend the session. There is speculation that if Jagan skips the session, it may signal a retreat, prompting all YSRCP MLAs to abstain from the oath-taking and complete it later in the Speaker's chamber. Alternatively, the MLAs might attend the session and take their oaths, while Jagan stays away from the meetings. The final decision from Jagan and the YSRCP is expected to become clear soon.