YSRCP leader Tammineni Seetaram was on Thursday elected unopposed as the new Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
A six-time MLA, Seetaram belongs from the OBC community and was elected from the Amudalavalasa constituency. He is also a three-time minister.
After his election, Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, several ministers, TDP deputy floor leaders K Acchen Naidu, among others, accompanied the Speaker to his chair.
Seetaram filed his nomination for the post on Wednesday. As many as 30 MLAs of ruling party seconded his nomination. He was elected unopposed as no one else filed nomination.
Congratulating the Speaker on his election, the Chief Minister, in his short speech, trained guns at the opposition TDP.
"Almighty wrote an extraordinary script. Those who bought 23 of YSRCP MLAs are now left with the same number of representatives in the Assembly. Those who bought three MPs of YSRCP are now left with the same number of MPs," Jagan Reddy said.
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The Chief Minister also slammed former Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, saying that he did not pay heed to his party's request to take action against the MLAs who defected.
He urged Seetaram to make an MLA ineligible for Assembly membership if he defects.
Reddy said that some people had suggested pulling TDP MLAs into YSRCP fold to ensure that there would be no opposition in the state.
"If I do the same, what will be the difference between me and NCBN (Chandrababu Naidu)," he said taking a jibe at the former Chief Minister.
TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu congratulated the new Speaker. He lauded Seetaram's credentials as a six-time MLA and three-time minister.
During Naidu's speech in the Assembly session the microphone was not functioning properly for a few moments which led ruling party MLAs to make satirical comments. The former chief minister retorted that his voice would never go down.
"The mikes which worked properly during our regime are not properly working now," Naidu said.
The TDP chief also said that sitting in opposition was not new to his party.
"Our party's fight will continue. Today I don't want to get into any controversies," he said.
The session saw heated arguments between ruling and opposition benches with both accusing each other of not following traditions and convention.
While the TDP MLAs alleged that their leader was not properly called on when Speaker was being escorted to the chair, the ruling party denied those allegations and said that the Protem speaker had invited leaders of all parties.
The YSRCP MLAs further alleged that TDP which had violated all norms and traditions in the past five years had no right to play the blame game. Both Chandrababu Naidu and Jaganmohan Reddy exchanged words during this verbal spat.
The defection of MLAs and the role of the Speaker during the earlier Assembly session became the main point of discussion. TDP MLAs tried to counter the argument by pointing the change of party made by late YS Rajasekhar Reddy.
YSRCP opposed that argument saying that the situation was different and anti-defection law was brought much later. The previous Speaker's "inaction" on defecting MLAs was much criticised by the present ruling party.
Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy said that Naidu should be happy for not revealing the number of TDP MLAs who were in touch with him.
During speeches as part of the resolution to thank the Speaker saw another heated exchange of words.
YSRCP MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, created a ruckus in the house when he criticised TDP leader Naidu for not coming to wish the new speaker but sending his party MLAs.
Chevireddy allegedly used the word "servants" for the Deputy leaders sent by TDP to congratulate the new speaker. TDP MLAs objected to it and stalled the proceedings of the House for a few minutes.
TDP MLAs alleged that the ruling party MLA said -- Chandrababu sent his servants.
Ruling party MLAs countered it saying that their MLAs said -- Chandrababu sent his MLAs like servants.
TDP demanded an apology on these remarks. The Speaker assured the Opposition that he will verify the records and take the appropriate decision.
The Session ended with the new speaker thanking the house.