Naidu, Jagan bonhomie marks day one of Assembly session

Making history on the first day of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly session here on Thursday, post bifurcation, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Leader of the Opposition Y S Jaganmohan Reddy put aside their differences and shook hands.

Jagan did not attend Naidu’s swearing-in ceremony at Guntur on June 8, though he was personally invited.

After the pro tem Speaker administered the oath to all 173 (2 vacant) members, the House unanimously passed a condolence motion on the death of Nandigama MLA T Prabhakar and Allagadda MLA Shobha Nagi Reddy. 

Incidentally, the Congress has no representative in the Assembly.  

The party wise strength of the members are, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) (102), Bharatiya Janata Party (4), YSR Congress (YSRC) (67) and Independents (2).

On a day of fast developments, Naidu took charge at the makeshift office in Lakeview Guest House where the cabinet met by the end of the day.  Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, formally took reins as a party coordinator, a post created by N T Rama Rao for his son-in-law Naidu in 1983. 

The move will help Naidu to focus on rebuilding the state from scratch. Six time MLA Kodela Sivaprasada Rao was the unanimous choice to be the first Speaker of the Assembly. YSRC chief Jagan has also supported his candidature.

Meanwhile, Naidu participated in a felicitation ceremony organised by the state government employees. 

He assured them, that his will be an employee friendly government. “It will not be like the YSR government, where officers were forced to take decisions favouring someone, I will be a team player,” he said.

Responding to Naidu’s call, several employees contributed cash and cheques as donations, while one lady staffer gave four gold bangles for building the new capital.