Reacting sharply to the show-cause notice issued by YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy, party’s Lok Sabha MP Raghurama Krishnam Raju sought to know if YSRCP has an internal committee to deal with inter-party disciplinary issues.
Raju, who dashed off his response to the show-cause notice on Thursday, asked who heads the internal disciplinary committee of the YSRCP. Further, he sought to know if the internal disciplinary committee of the party is recognised by the Election Commission of India.
Most importantly, the Lok Sabha MP questioned the legal sanctity of the show-cause sent by Vijayasai Reddy. In his response, Raju stated that the show-cause notice lacked legal sanctity as it was served under the letter head of the YSR Congress Party instead of the party name ‘Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party’ which is the registered name in the Election Commission of India.
“Please be informed that Anna YSR Congress Party is another political party registered with the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission of India has refused to register the name YSR Congress Party when we applied on May 6, 2015. No request or communication was ever made for change of the name by our party as per clause 9 Section 29A of The Representation of the People’s Act 1951. I hope and trust you have taken permission from our beloved president Sri Jagan Mohan Reddy garu to use the letter heads with YSR Congress Party printed on it. Since the Election Commission clearly indicated to us not to use YSR on the letterhead and instead asked us to use Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party only,” he reminded the YSRCP leadership.
Further, he sought to know in what capacity Vijayasai Reddy has sent the show cause notice to him. “I am surprised to see you designating yourself as national general secretary of our party which is Registered as State recognised party as per Para 6A of the Election Symbols Reservation and Allotment Order 1968.”
“Have you served this show-cause notice in the capacity of National General Secretary? If so, I doubt the authority vested to this chair with all regards as per the party constitution that was submitted by our party to the Election Commission of India. It is the byelaw of our party that we ought to be constituting a disciplinary committee ever since we intend to call ourselves a political party. I would stand obligated to answer only upon establishing that there is a disciplinary committee and the procedure stipulated to and notified by Election Commission were adhered to in word and spirit. If not, I may have to treat you unauthorised to address the communication and forced to take legal proceedings for misleading one and all,” Raju warned.
On Wednesday, Vijayasai Reddy issued a show cause notice to Raju seeking an explanation from the Lok Sabha MP for the recent comments he made.
Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy, widely known as A2, stated that inter-party discipline is supreme and the party will take strong action against those who violate it. Further, Vijayasai Reddy noted that the party will wait for the response from Raju and necessary action will be taken depending on the response.
Raju has been publicly voicing his opinion on various omissions and commissions of the YSRCP government, including its policy on sand, land and liquor. The Lok Sabha MP openly expressed his displeasure over the proposed sale of TTD assets stating that such a move would hurt the sentiments of the devotees.
The YSRCP MP had also raised the issue of sand scarcity in AP due to the flawed policy adopted by the Jagan government which has led to a steep spike in the price of sand thereby paralyzing the construction industry. More recently, Raju used Rajanikant’s popular dialogue (Nanna pandule gumpuga vastayi simham Single ga vastundi — pigs come in herd , but a lion walks in solo) to hit out at his political critics.
Raju also dashed off a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressing fear of threat to his life from his party’s leaders in his native district West Godavari district. In his letter written to the Speaker on June 18, Raju had requested that he be provided security by police protection in the wake of increased threats from YSRCP leader.
In recent times, the YSRCP leaders have come out in the open to criticize Jagan’s sand policy. Vinukonda YSRCP MLA Bolla Brahma Naidu admitted that the sand mafia was operating rampantly in Andhra Pradesh. YSRCP MLA Kileru Rosaiah bemoaned that the sand was not reaching stock points, while Kothapet YSRCP legislator Jaggi Reddy slammed the APMDC saying it had miserably failed to supply sand to everyone. Jaggi Reddy found fault with the online sale of sand. He said the moment one attempts to book sand through online, the sales seem to be over in five minutes.
