VIJAYAWADA: Several ministers, MLAs and leaders of the YSR Congress are hinting at taking away the ‘Leader of the Opposition’ status of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, but the ruling party leadership is said to be treading cautiously in giving a green signal to the elected representatives from the Opposition party to jump ship.
The YSRC leadership is firm that any elected representative, be it a MLA or a MP from another party, should resign from their position before joining it and this, in fact, is stopping it from going all out against the Opposition. The TDP, which won 23 seats in the Assembly in the 2019 elections, has literally lost one of its members in Gannavaram MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi, who was suspended by the party for anti-party activities. Vamsi is likely to join the YSRC soon.
The TDP needs at least 17 MLAs to get Leader of the the
Opposition status and the YSRC leadership wants to strip the same of Naidu. The ruling party is not ready to take chances and wants to ensure that whoever joins the party has the ability to win the seat in the bypoll that follows after his/her resignation.The party may also face internal rift over fielding the turncoat MLAs in the bypoll.
“Majority of the TDP MLAs won with a slender margin against formidable YSRC candidates. If an Opposition party MLA joins the party, there will definitely be a cold war between the persons who contested against each other in the last Assembly elections. The party wants to ensure that both the leaders agree to work together for the party before allowing a MLA to join us,’’ a senior YSRC leader said.
The TDP is wary of the fact that several of its MLAs and MPs are in touch with other parties. “The YSRC’s thumb rule that resignation is a must to join it, in a way, has come as a blessing in disguise for us. Otherwise, several of our MLAs might have jumped ship by now,’’ a TDP leader opined.It may be recalled that 22 MLAs, who have won on YSRC ticket in the 2014 election, had joined the ruling TDP between March 1, 2016 and November 27, 2017 and four of them were made ministers by the then Naidu government.