When the fledgling YSR Congress planned to move a no confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government in the Assembly, its political strategy was to expose the vulnerability of the Congress and the principal Opposition, Telugu Desam’s connivance with the former.
But when the House suddenly took up the motion, YSRC’s strategy seemed to have gone awry as it found it difficult to counter the vicious attack mounted by the TDP and the Congress. There was no politically savvy leader who could match the barbs fired by TDP deputy leader, Motkupalli Narasimhlu, directly targeting former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Armed with the CBI chargesheet, Mr. Narasimhulu listed out the charges of amassing wealth and corruption during YSR’s tenure and wondered how such a party expected support for its motion from Telugu Desam which had been fighting Congress for 30 years now.
The Congress too was harsh on YSRCP with Minister Kanna Laxminarayana asking YSRC leader Vijayamma, to which party she belonged. She was praising her husband who had always been with the Congress. Two other Ministers, S. Shailajanath and Danam Nagender, brought out the contradiction wondering how YSRCP could support the motion moved by TRS with Telangana as agenda, when YSR had opposed it. YSRCP member, Sobha Nagi Reddy made a feeble attempt to defend the decision saying it was against the anti-people policies of the government.
YSRC appeared unprepared for such political attack with no tall leader who could give them a direction. For all the allegations and comments hurled at the party, the leader, Vijayamma, sat through silently except once when she became emotional and asked the Opposition why her husband, YSR, and son, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy were being targeted when no court had held them guilty.
Other YSRC MLAs too could not retaliate politically and kept rushing to the podium to appeal to the Deputy Speaker, M. Bhatti Vikramarka to restrain Mr. Narasimhulu. When they lost patience doing this after a dozen times, two angry YSRCP members wrenched the mikes and threw it in the well of the House. Srikant Reddy and K. Ramachandra Reddy did try to make a point occasionally.
The YSRC members’ defensive attitude reflected Ms. Vijayamma’s participation in the debate. She read out from a prepared text and said Kiran Kumar Reddy Government had no right to continue in office for a single day . She cricised TDP for not supporting the motion. It was unfortunate she said that she had to express no confidence against Congress which was headed by YSR.
