Hyderabad: Y S Vijaya, widow of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, made her maiden entry into the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday.
Vijaya, who was elected to the Assembly from Pulivendula constituency in Kadapa district, was escorted into the House by Congress MLAs Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Konda Surekha and Praja Rajyam Party MLA Sobha Nagireddy, amidst the slogans "johar YSR". She was seated in the fourth row along with women legislators of Congress party though that was not her allotted seat in the House. It was to fulfill a statutory obligation (of attending the House at least once in six months) as well as vote on the no-confidence motion that Vijaya attended the proceedings on the last day of the winter session of Assembly.
This was the first time ever that Vijaya, who was elected to the Assembly twice, set foot in the House.
She was first elected to the Assembly in December 2009 in the by-election after her husband`s death. She never entered the House though she remained a member till November 2010 when she resigned from her post and also quit the Congress. Vijaya was re-elected from Pulivendula in the second by-election in May 2011 on behalf of YSR Congress, of which she is the honorary president. She is the lone member of YSR Congress in the 294-member AP Assembly though about 20 Congress MLAs are unofficially sailing with her party. PTI