VIJAYAWADA: The YSR Congress legislators have announced that they would boycott the monsoon session of the Assembly in protest against the government and the Speaker for not disqualifying the defected legislators.Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, a day before the beginning of the monsoon session, YSR Congress legislators - P Ramakrishna Reddy, Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, Gopireddi Srinivasa Reddy, Meka Pratap Apparao, K Rakshananidhi and Mustafa - alleged that the government had encouraged defections from the YSR Congress and had taken 23 legislators. The government had also appointed four of the defected YSR Congress legislators ministers, while Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao remained mute spectator to the violation of the rules. The legislators said that the Speaker was not taking action on the petitions seeking the disqualification of these legislators.They also alleged that the Speaker was also working as agent of the ruling Telugu Desam Party by not allowing Opposition leader Jaganmohan Reddy or the YSR Congress legislators in the House. “The Speaker gives more opportunities to the ruling party, while denying the rights of the Opposition. The Speaker allows several unwanted and unwarranted interruptions when the leader of Opposition speaks. There is no scope in the Assembly to represent the issues of the people as there is no democracy in the House,” the legislators alleged.They also blamed the Speaker for listing the defected legislators in the YSR Congress though they are present with the TDP and part of the government. “Listing the defected legislators as the YSR Congress members after the end of every session is a shameless thing that the TPD and the Speaker are resorting to,” the legislators said.The YSR Congress legislators also said that they have written to the Speaker and the state government seeking disqualification of the 23 YSR Congress legislators including the four ministers. “If the Speaker takes action against these legislators, we are ready to attend the Assembly session from the first day,” the legislators announced.

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