Hyderabad, August 30: The Congress party has foiled an attempt by Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy to lure over a dozen first-time MLAs to his fold. Sources say that Jagan was trying to lure the Congress and PRP MLAs asking them to join his camp by resigning from the posts.
The Congress on Monday held a meeting of 19 MLAs including nine MLAs who were originally elected on PRPs ticket at the Congress Legislature Party office in the assembly premises. Though no senior leader attended the meeting, sources say that the MLAs were briefed about the political tactics Jagan’s camp might use to lure them. They have been asked not to get attracted with the offers that the opposition usually makes for horse-trading. Since most of the first-time MLAs are quite young, they have been told not to make the political mistake of their career, which has just begun.
The meeting was attended by MLAs P Ramesh Babu, Ch Venkata RAmamiah, N Srinivas Rao, Vanga Geetha, Srinivas, M Sridhar Krishna Reddy, A Rambabu, K Ramreddy, Anil Kumar, A Krishna Mohan, M Vijaya Prasad, B Usha Rani, Jogi Ramesh, U Narasimha Reddy and Mutyala Papa among others.
Although there was no official briefing about the purpose of the meeting, but the media was told that the first-time MLAs discussed the common problems that they have been facing in their constituencies. Later, the MLAs also met the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy asking him to pay attention to the problems in their constituencies. They demanded that the welfare programmes like Rachabanda must be held in their constituencies more frequently. The Chief Minister has reportedly assured them of all the support and help.
——Agencies