Pandemonium prevailed in the Assembly over the zero interest loans (vaddi leni runalu-VLR) on Friday, as the ruling YSR Congress Party and Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) continued to throw challenges and counter challenges at each other.
Both of them tried to score a brownie points over the other by rolling out statistics on the zero interest and “Pavala Vaddi” loans.
As soon as the House assembled, the TDP moved a privilege motion against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy alleging that he misled the House on Thursday during a discussion on drought in the State.
Intervening, the Chief Minister asked the Speaker to continue the discussion and TDP member N Rama Naidu picked up the threads from where he left on Thursday, which was followed by Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu, who maintained that the TDP government had paid zero interest to farmers. He was referring to the TDP allegations at a press conference that the government ran away when they came up documentary evidences on Thursday.
While the TDP claimed that it had cleared even the arrears of Kiran Kumar Reddy government in combined Andhra Pradesh, the Treasury benches, which accused the previous government (TDP) of not paying a single penny to farmers under the VLR and Pavala vaddi loans on Thursday, apparently softened its tune when Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu presented documents in support of his party’s claim that the TDP government indeed implemented the schemes.
Mr. Jagan sought to turn the tables saying, “not paid even penny doesn’t mean nothing was paid. The phrase was used in a colloquial sense.” The government was supposed to pay ₹11,595 crore during last five years but mere ₹630 crore was paid. The farmers got just 5% of what they ought to get. Though 95 % of the farmers did not get the benefits, the TDP has been resorting to false claims on the issue and has been propagating that the zero interest loan scheme was a continuous process and there is nothing new in this scheme. How can the TDP claim that it had cleared all the dues? he asked.
The TDP members sprang to their feet many times demanding that the Chair allow them to speak.
They also demanded that the Chief Minister either resign or tender apology to the people for misleading the House.
The House slipped into disorder frequently as TDP members tried to interrupt the Chief Minister. The Speaker adjourned the House for tea break, which put an end to the issue.