Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said that Assembly speaker Chintakayala Ayyannapathrudu was a great leader. Speaking after the unanimous election of Ayyannapathrudu as speaker of the assembly, Chandrababu Naidu congratulated the new speaker.
He said that he was not honoured in the previous Assembly led by YSR Congress. They did not give him the mike to speak in the house, he said. He further regretted that his family was insulted and heckled. He left the House promising to come back only as the chief minister. He came as the chief minister and this house would have all the honours, he said.
Chandrababu Naidu said that Ayyannapathrudu faced several challenges during the last five years. Several cases were filed against him in several police stations. He was a fighter and never gave up the fighting spirit, Chandrababu Naidu said. He also worked for the development of north An dhra region, he said.
Ayyannapathrudu was elected to the Assembly seven times and to Parliament once. He has vast experience in politics and governance. He was also a minister in his cabinet in the past, he said. He expressed confidence that this house would go well respecting all the rules and traditions.
Though Ayyannapathrudu is 66 now, he is still a firebrand leader, Chandrababu Naidu said. He fights for his rights and the rights of the people, he said. He also praised the new speaker as a man of spirit and uprightness.
Deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan said that people have seen Ayyannapathrudu as their leader with fighting spirit for all these decades. He expressed confidence that Ayyannapathrudu would conduct the proceedings of the house with dignity. People will see him as a dignified speaker of the assembly, he said.
Minister for IT Nara Lokesh congratulated the new speaker and said that he always depended on Ayyannapathrudu for advice. He said that the long experience of Ayyannapathrudu would help him to conduct the proceedings of the house. He said that Ayyannapathrudu is a daring personality and never gave up fighting despite the previous government filing cases against him.
