Axe falls on 15 rebel MLAs in AP

Fifteen rebel MLAs – nine from the ruling Congress and six from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – were booted out of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly with the Speaker disqualifying them for defying the whip of parties during a no-trust vote.

The disqualified MLAs had voted in favour of a no-confidence motion moved by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) against N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s Government in the Assembly, but the government appears safe and well-positioned to weather any no-trust motion in the session.

Of the 18 rebel legislators who had voted in favour of the no-trust motion on March 15, as many as 15 legislators have been disqualified by Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Saturday.

The exit of the legislators has put Assembly numbers in the Congress’ favour. The effective strength of the Assembly has now come down to 278 from 293. As a result, the magic figure needed for the government’s survival has fallen to 139 from 147. Since the number of Congress MLAs, after the expulsion of nine legislators, will be 147, there will be no immediate threat to the government’s survival even if a no-trust motion is moved.

The nine disqualified Congress MLAs are: Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani), Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Sujay Krishna Ranga Rao, Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani), Dwarampudi Chandrasekhara Reddy, Jogi Ramesh, Maddala Rajesh Kumar, Gottipati Ravikumar and Buchepalli Sivaprasada Reddy.The six axed TDP legislators are: Y Balanagi Reddy, T Vanita, Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani), N Amarnath Reddy, AV Praveen Kumar Reddy and Piriya Sairaj.

The Speaker, however, has kept his decision pending on three TDP legislators --Chinnam Ramakotaiah, S Venugopalachary  and K Hareeswar Reddy -- as the party failed to prove its claim that the trio had violated the party’s whip.

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