Setting the stage for an intense political battle, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and YSR Congress Party on Thursday gave separate notices in the Legislative Assembly for taking up a no-confidence motion against Kiran Kumar Reddy government.
The motion when it is taken up for voting after a debate, may not alter the position of the Congress government as it sits pretty with the principal Opposition party, Telugu Desam, having 77 members refusing to go with TRS and YSRC’s move. The TDP has even issued a whip asking the party MLAs to remain neutral.
Both the parties gave single sentence notices saying they have lost confidence in the Council of Ministers. In the 294- member Assembly, TRS has only 17 MLAs against a requirement of a minimum of 30 members for introduction of the motion in the House. It managed to rope in the support CPI (4), BJP (3) and Nagam Janardhan Reddy of Telangana Nagara Samithi, all of whom have signed on the notice. In addition, it is banking on support from MLAs, one each from CPI(M) and Lok Satta, an Independent and a TDP MLA.
Some time later, a delegation of YSRC too followed suit and submitted their notice similar to that of the TRS. It was signed by Sobha Nagi Reddy, Dharmana Krishna Das and Tellam Balaraju. The YSRC too has 17 members but is counting on the support of nine Congress and six TDP members MLAs who have already made their intentions known to sail with the party.
It has to be seen whether the Assembly Speaker, Nadendla Manohar, would take up these motions separately or club them together for the debate as was done in the case of TDP and TRS earlier in December 2011.
On Thursday, Congress party managers, reassured by TDP’s covert support, exuded confidence of winning the vote. They were in fact keen on taking up the debate as early as possible, “before TDP develops second thoughts”. If the Speaker grants leave after taking up the notice on Friday, the party said it would not mind a debate on Saturday.
Congress meetings
Nevertheless, at a series of meetings the Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, and other Ministers held during the day, the discussion centred round ways of tackling the potential threat. The party is also firming up plans to proceed against rebel MLAs.
Earlier, coming out after submitting the notice, TRS floor leader Etala Rajender said the government had lost the moral right to continue owing to its ‘anti-people’ policies. YSR Congress member Shoba Nagi Reddy said the party was left with no other option than serving the notice after the TDP backed out.
