VIJAYAWADA: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday accepted the resignations of all five YSRC MPs and put out five bulletins notifying the decision. The vacancies arising out of the move will not culminate in bypolls as there is less than a year left for the Lok Sabha elections. The political atmosphere in the state is likely to be charged with demands for special category status, with the Opposition now going full blast on the NDA government’s failure to accord SCS to the State and the TDP government’s inability to pressure the Centre.
The five MPs — Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy (Nellore), Y S Avinash Reddy (Kadapa), P V Midhun Reddy (Rajampet), Dr Vara Prasada Rao V (Tirupati) and Y V Subba Reddy (Ongole) — put in their papers on April 6, soon after the Parliament Session ended. Welcoming the acceptance of their resignations, the YSRC leaders maintained that theirs was the only party fighting for SCS honestly.
“Unlike other outfits, the YSRC is not creating a drama to score brownie points from voters,” Y V Subba Reddy told TNIE.“We were sincere in highlighting the issue right from the beginning. We waited till the last Budget Session of Parliament to raise issues related to APRA including SCS, national status to Polavaram, Kadapa steel plant etc., but we were not given a chance to voice our concerns,” he said.
Reddy added that though the YSRC had just five MPs, the party moved a no-confidence motion to expose how the NDA government at the Centre and TDP government at the State had betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh. When reminded that the TDP government had alleged the YSRC was kicking up a storm to stay in the news, the MP retorted, “We resigned when the tenure of the Lok Sabha was more than 14 months, let the TDP MPs resign for a day to prove their sincerity.’’
“We put in our papers believing that a bye-election would be called. We would, of course, have had a thumping victory then as only we are sincere in the fight for AP’s cause,” he claimed and quickly added that it was Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP that had pulled out of the NDA government for selfish political gains. “Naidu came out of the NDA before elections sensing that there was an anti-incumbency wave against PM Narendra Modi,” he alleged.
The TDP, in turn, flung the allegation back at the YSRC. “Despite approving the resignations of two of BJP MPs -- BS Yeddyurappa and B Sreeramulu -- in May, the Speaker kept the YSRC’s papers on hold. It is only when the possibility of conducting bypolls ceased that she accepted the letters. If this isn’t proof of collusion between the YSRC and the BJP, then what is?” TDP Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas told TNIE.YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will take a call on approaching the Election Commission to seek bye-election to the five vacancies arising out of the resignations. “There is provision that elections can be held even if there is six months’ time. Jagan Mohan Reddy will take a call on it,’’ Subba Reddy said.