Jana Sena MLA likely to be Andhra’s PAC chief
Jana Sena lawmaker Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu is set to be elected chairman of Andhra Pradesh's public accounts committee amid opposition from YSRCP.
Senior Jana Sena Party lawmaker Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu is likely to get elected as the chairman of public accounts committee of Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly on Friday, people familiar with the matter said.
Ramanjaneyulu, a three-time MLA from Bhimavaram, on Thursday filed his nomination papers for the PAC chairman post, along with eight other MLAs representing the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who filed their nominations PAC member posts.
The NDA lawmakers who filed the nominations are: Sriram Rajagopal (Jaggayyapet), BV Jayanageshwar Reddy (Yemmiganur), Arimilli Radhakrishna (Tanuku), Ashok Reddy (Giddalur), Burla Ramanjaneyulu (Prathipadu), Nakka Anand Babu (Vemuru) and Kolla Lalitha Kumari (S Kota) from Telugu Desam Party and P Vishnu Kumar Raju (Visakhapatnam) from BJP.
The election for the PAC chairman post, to be held on ballot paper method, has become inevitable with YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) entering the fray. Senior YSRCP MLA and former minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy from Punganur also filed his nomination post.
Besides, three YSRCP legislative council members also filed their nominations for the PAC member posts. The PAC has, in all, 12 members, including the chairperson. Of the 11 members, three will be elected from the legislative council.
In the event of voting for the posts, each member should get a minimum of 20 votes. The NDA did not field any MLC candidates for the member posts, as it has only 10 members in the 58-member council, whereas the YSRCP has 38 members.
As per the traditions of the state legislature, the PAC chairperson post is given to the main opposition party in the assembly. However, the YSRCP has only 11 MLAs in the 175-member Andhra assembly, thereby it could not get the leader of opposition status.
However, the YSRCP pitched for the PAC chairman post, on the pretext that it is the only opposition in the state assembly. It has fielded Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy for the post and he, too, filed his nomination for the post.
“As per tradition, the post has to be given to the opposition party. But the ruling NDA has refused to acknowledge our party as opposition and in violation of the tradition, it chose to nominate its own candidate for the PAC chairman post,” senior YSRCP leader Botsa Satyanarayana said.
State finance minister Payyavula Kesav said the PAC chairperson would be elected by the members.
“A candidate contesting for the post should have the support of at least 20 MLAs. The elected candidate will be nominated as PAC chairman by the Speaker,” he said.
In the previous assembly, the opposition TDP managed to elect just one member, Payyavula Keshav, who was appointed as the PAC chairman.
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