Ayyanna Patrudu elected as Speaker unanimously

Vijayawada : TDP's Narsipatnam MLA C Ayyanna Patrudu was elected unanimously as the Speaker of the 16th Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Saturday.

Normally as per the practice in the Assembly the newly-elected Speaker is escorted to his chair by the leader of the House, leader of the Opposition or any MLA from the Opposition. But for the first time, Andhra Pradesh has set a new precedent where non-opposition MLA was present.

It may be mentioned here that the Legislative Affairs Minister Pyavula Keshav had informed YSRCP leader Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy about the unanimous election of the Speaker and the time when he would take charge and asked him to inform his party leader. But YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy chose to go to Idupulapaya instead of attending the Assembly session. He also instructed all his MLAs to boycott the session.

This assumes importance in the wake of the controversy that Jagan had insulted the Assembly on Friday by entering the House late and leaving immediately after taking oath as member.

Earlier the Pro-tem Speaker G Butchaiah Chowdary announced that three sets of nominations proposing the name of Ayyannapatrudu were received and since there was no other nomination, Ayyanna has been elected unanimously as the Speaker. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Pawan Kalyan and others escorted Ayyannapatrudu to the Speaker's chair.

Addressing the 16th Legislative Assembly for the first time, Naidu congratulated the Speaker, noting that he is one of the senior-most legislators in the Telugu states. "It is very happy to see a BC leader in the position of the Speaker. My wholehearted congratulations to you for being unanimously elected as the Speaker,” he said.

Naidu elaborated on the background of 67-year-old Ayyannapatrudu. “Ayyanna, who is known as firebrand leader, has the responsibility to restore the lost glory, decency and decorum of the Assembly. The previous government had turned it into a platform for personal attacks using abusive language instead of discussing people’s issues,” he said.

Recalling the very first speech of the former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, Naidu said, Reddy had displayed arrogance and ego when he said that on June 23, TDP has 23 members and that was the script written by God.

“Now NDA alliance won 164 seats which comes to 1+6+4=11. This is the number YSRCP has in the Assembly, but still they were shown full respect on Friday. Unfortunately they chose to stay away today,” he said.

He called upon the members not to use any cuss words in the Assembly and participate in discussions and debates with all seriousness not with arrogance or vengeance.