Hyderabad, April 22: In what ends months of vacillation, the Congress in Andhra Pradesh began on Thursday a crackdown on the supporters of YS Jaganmohan Reddy within the party, seeking the disqualification of four of the legislators openly siding with the Kadapa leader.
Those facing action include three legislators from Kadapa district – Adinarayana Reddy, Amarnath Reddy and Srikant Reddy, as well as a former Minister from Warangal district, Konda Surekha.
Ever since Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, had revolted against the party leadership last year, resigned from Congress and Parliament, and launched his own political party, named YSR Congress, as many as 20 Congress MLAs and two members of Parliament declared their loyalty to him.
But in a strategic move the Congress has decided to take action only against the four die-hard supporters, as mass action could endanger the Government’s majority in the State Assembly.
Government chief whip M Bhatti Vikramarka and whip K Murli met Deputy Speaker N Manohar on Thursday and formally petitioned him to disqualify the four legislators. They also submitted the documentary proof, including the newspaper cuttings and the video clippings of the anti-party activities of these legislators.
Earlier, Bhatti Vikramarka and K Murli met Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, the State Congress committee also issued showcause notices to the four MLAs for their participation in the election campaign of Jaganmohan Reddy and his mother Vijayalakshmi in Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies.
The notice asked them why action should not be taken against them for their anti-party activities. They have been asked to reply to the notice within a week.
The four were the part of the 20 odd MLAs of the Congress party who have been openly supporting Jaganmohan Reddy ever since he revolted against the party leadership and finally quit the party in November last.
The Congress approached the Deputy Speaker with a request to disqualify the rebel MLAs at a time when he has already issued notices to the two Telugu Desam MLAs on a petition of TDP seeking their disqualification.
–Agencies–