Vijayawada sources have stated that the opposition YSR Congress staged a walkout from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday, over exemption of power charges for the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe families, within an hour of its convening.
A day after Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan addressed the joint session, the House began its business on Tuesday and the opposition party took objection to the statistics furnished by the treasury benches with regard to exemption of power charges to the SC and ST families.
Meanwhile the Opposition leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had
insisted that the government should spell out how many families were benefited
by the scheme. Labour Minister K. Atchannaidu, however, asserted that it was
not possible to quantify it. “The government is passing on the benefit to all
SC and ST families who consume less than 50 units".
It led to a war of words between the ruling and the opposition parties during Question Hour. Mr. Reddy had alleged that very few families were benefiting from the program. Meanwhile the Minister had maintained that the government was not charging up to 50 units even if the power consumption exceeded over and above 50 units. Unlike previous governments, the TDP government was not collecting charges for the first 50 units.
