india

Updated: Jun 12, 2019 22:58 IST

After a gap of nearly 19 months, YSR Congress party president Jagan Mohan Reddy entered the Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly on Wednesday in the capacity of chief minister.

The first session of the second assembly of Andhra Pradesh began at 11.03 am with the swearing-in of the newly-elected members as MLAs. Pro-tem speaker Sambangi Venkata Chinna Appala Naidu administered the oath of office to the MLAs.

Jagan Reddy was the first member to take oath as an MLA and leader of the House. He was followed by Telugu Desam Party president and leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and then by Jagan’s cabinet colleagues and MLAs in alphabetical order.

It was on October 26, 2017 that Jagan had announced boycott of the state assembly for the remaining part of the previous term in protest against then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu engineering defection of 23 of his party MLAs into the Telugu Desam Party.

Subsequently, the YSRC president went on a marathon padayatra (foot march) for nearly 14 months covering over 3,600 km that eventually catapulted him to power in the April 11 assembly elections with a landslide majority.

On Wednesday, Jagan entered the assembly from the entrance meant for the ruling party on the right side of the podium, amidst loud applause from the treasury benches. He took the seat meant for the leader of the House.

On the other hand, Naidu entered the House from the left side and occupied the seat allocated for the leader of the opposition side alongside of his party MLA K Atchen Naidu.

Interestingly, the state government has withdrawn the escort and pilot vehicles from the convoy of Naidu, which were provided to him during his tenure as the chief minister. Enquiries with the security officials revealed that the two vehicles were withdrawn as per the protocol, as they cannot be provided to the opposition leader.

“The pilot vehicle, meant for clearing the traffic for smooth travel of the VVIP and the escort vehicle at the end of the convoy to ensure prevention of other vehicles into the convoy, are provided only to the chief minister,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

TDP leaders who noticed the missing of two vehicles in Naidu’s convoy as he came to the assembly in the morning, brought it to the notice of the top police officials, sources said. They told them that Naidu was under Z Plus security cover due to high threat perception and hence, needed the escort and pilot vehicles.

They suggested that the issue could have been taken up in the Committee for Security Affairs before withdrawing the vehicles. They, however, did not lodge any formal complaint nor did they speak to media in this regard.