Amaravati, July 2 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram on Thursday alleged courts were giving directions to the government in policy matters.

The outburst, in Tirupati, came in the backdrop of the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government suffering setbacks with the Andhra Pradesh High Court annulling several of its decisions in recent verdicts. If courts are dictating orders that you do this, you do that, you stop this, you go there... what for are people, elections, votes, MLAs, MPs? Why do we need a Legislative Assembly? Why elect a Chief Minister or a Speaker? Why all this? Sitaram asked, addressing mediapersons.

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He said intellectuals should debate over this. We are going ahead with all respect to the Constitution. If our (governments) decisions are wrong, people will defeat us in the elections, he added.

The Speaker lashed out at the opposition Telugu Desam Party for not passing the Appropriation Bill in the Legislative Council.

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Will you stall a Money Bill? You have nothing to do, so you are doing such nasty things, he charged.

The government could not pay salaries to its staff for June due to non-passage of the Appropriation Bill that clears the states annual budget, but has said the process would be completed this week. You have a responsibility to the people, the Speaker reminded the TDP.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)