Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the creation of Linguistic State for the Telugus, the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly began on Saturday with a candid admission by political leaders that standards in the legislature had fallen.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who inaugurated the celebrations, proposed the right to recall as a remedy to set right those MLAs who did not measure up to the people's expectations. Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy said it was time for a courageous and honest self analysis as to where society was headed for while leader of the Opposition N.Chandra Babu Naidu called for political reforms to strengthen Parliamentary democracy.
The faction ridden TRS could not present a united picture in its much-hyped protest. Serious differences cropped up when the dissident MLAs question the issuance of whip asking them to keep away from the seminar addressed by Mr.Chatterjee when it was not part of the Assembly proceedings. 29 ex MLAs listed for felicitation belong to the Telangana Region, they said. Over 40 former MLAs were felicitated by Somnath Chatterjee in the old Assembly building which was bedecked with flowers.