GUNTUR: At a time when the crucial decentralisation Bill was about to come up in the AP State Legislative Council, where the TDP has an upper hand, party MLC and former minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasad submitted his resignation in protest against the three-capital proposal.
He sent the resignation letters to party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and the AP Legislative Council chairman MA Shariff. The timing of the decision came as a shock to the TDP and raised many eyebrows.
It also fuelled speculation that the TDP leader might shift to the ruling YRS Congress.
Varaprasad has been maintaining distance from party activities for the past few days. Though Varaprasad might not immediately jump the ship as he has cited shifting of Secretariat as the reason for his resignation, sources said he would wait for a suitable time to take a call.
Varaprasad, in a letter released to the media, demanded continuation of Amaravati as capital. “I fought for Amaravati as capital city after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. I thank TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu and general secretary Nara Lokesh for encouraging me in the party and providing better opportunities,’’ Varaprasad said adding that the party had even given him an opportunity to contest from Prathipadu Assembly constituency in the 2019 general elections.
He said though he was defeated by Mekathoti Sucharita, the people of the constituency respect him whenever he visits Prathipadu. The MLC made it clear that he will not contest direct elections in future.
TDP to seek action against party MLCs The TDP likely to move a disqualification petition against MLCs Pothula Sunitha and D Sivanath Reddy, who voted against the party line. The TDP may hand over a petition to the AP Legislative Council Chairman MA Shariff seeking disqualification of the TDP members. Another MLC Samantakamani from Anantapur district abstained from the proceedings of the Council and former minister Setrucharla Vijaya Ramaraju abstained from voting, causing embarrassment to the Opposition party