With the time ticking for the Lok Sabha debate on the no-trust motion moved by it, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Thursday finalised its strategy to be adopted in the House on Friday. It decided to field Guntur MP Jayadev Galla, who was hailed in social media for his power-packed speech in Parliament during the Budget session in February, to initiate the debate though Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) had moved the motion.
Party supremo and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday wrote letters to the MPs of all political parties seeking support to the motion. Citing the reasons behind it, Mr. Naidu listed out 18 issues including the Special Category Status (SCS), the revenue deficit, the Kadapa steel plant, the Visakhapatnam railway zone, the tax incentives, the metro rail in Vijayawada and the Visakhapatnam petro-chemical complex etc.
The four teams of MPs constituted by him had already met presidents/leaders of non-BJP parties seeking their support. They handed over Mr. Naidu’s letters to them along with a booklet.
The MPs were asked to meet their counterparts of other parties. Mr. Naidu’s bottomline message was “No party should oppose us. See that either they support us or remain neutral.”
The TDP issued a three-line whip to its MPs to be present in Parliament on July 19 and 20 and show their support to the no-confidence motion. But, during the day, Anantapur MP J. C.Diwakar Reddy created a stir by announcing that he would not attend the monsoon session. Mr. Naidu convinced him to attend telling him that the issue concerned five crore people.
Mr. Naidu suggested his MPs to “press the Chair” to allot more time to the TDP. In about a 7-hour debate, the TDP is likely to get 15 minutes. Mr. Srinivas and Srikakulam MP K. Rammohan Naidu would also participate in the debate sharing the time allotted to the TDP.
Mr. Jayadev is expected to speak on the revenue deficit, the budgetary allocations and others, while Mr. Rammohan Naidu would speak on the backward districts, the Visakhapatnam railway zone and thepetro corridor. Mr. Srinivas would speak on the capital city.
