TDP members to attend Assembly sans Naidu

Vijayawada: Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) here on Saturday decided to attend the Budget session of the Assembly set to begin on March 7. However, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu will not attend.

Earlier, several leaders of the party sought a boycott of the Assembly in tune with their national president, N Chandrababu Naidu's decision to abstain from the same.

He had announced, after being subjected to humiliation in the last Assembly session, his decision to boycott the Assembly till his party came back to power. A teary Naidu told his party leaders after staging a walk out from the previous session that he had never been subjected to such vituperative attacks. It has been now decided that only TDP legislators will attend the session.

Earlier this week, several MLAs felt it wouldn't be right to attend the Assembly session as the party leaders were not being allowed to express their views and the mike was always cut. However, in a virtual meet on Saturday presided by Naidu, senior leaders of the party including Yanamala Ramakrushnudu and K Atchannaidu, insisted on attending the meet as several pressing problems, including the bad financial situation of the state needed Opposition's attention.

They laboured to convince the MLAs and MLCs of the party of the need to counter the ruling party's misinformation campaign and false propaganda on several issues. They said if there was no Opposition in the House, then the Treasury Benches would be further emboldened to flout the democratic norms further and would inflict more pain on the people through their unilateral moves.

As the younger leadership of the party understood the implications of boycotting the session, Naidu convinced them to attend the Assembly and expose the Government's misdeeds. He asked them to handle dicey situations wherein they would be dragged into an argument and deftly maneuver the debates to highlight their view points.

Naidu cautioned his legislators against the 'evil designs' of the ruling party and made a positive contribution despite the resistance they faced from the ruling party members. He said he himself would not attend as decided but would guide them.

Earlier, the party mulled abstaining from the session and instead decided to take up an agitational programme to take its fight to the streets. There are also plans of Nara Lokesh undertaking a door to door campaign soon to highlight the failures of the government.