Congress president Sonia Gandhi is said to have given her nod to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to initiate disciplinary action by seeking disqualification of the 16 party MLAs, who sided with YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, and cross-voted against the government in the no confidence motion in the A.P. Assembly on Tuesday last.
Ms. Gandhi reportedly took the decision here on Saturday after holding hectic consultations with her political secretary, Ahmed Patel, and Union Health Minister and Congress general secretary in-charge of A.P., Ghulam Nabi Azad. Party sources said she wanted to send a strong message that indiscipline would not be tolerated at any cost.
Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was summoned by the party leadership, during his discussions with Ms. Gandhi, was told clearly that he should crack the whip against the dissidents, no matter even if there were by-elections for so many seats.
The next step would be to convene a meeting of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Hyderabad shortly and pass a resolution seeking action against the rebels for violating the party whip. The resolution, along with a letter of the party chief whip/leader in the Assembly, would be sent to the Assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of the MLAs under the anti-defection law. The Chief Minister told journalists: “The disqualification of all the MLAs who defied the party whip and voted against the government will be sought under the 10 schedule of the Constitution. Our party MPs, leaders, cadres and PCC have expressed the same opinion. We are going ahead with it,” he said.
On the fate of two Congress MLAs who defied the whip and abstained from voting, he said an explanation would be sought from them.
To a question, he said the Praja Rajyam, which had merged with the Congress outside the Assembly, would take action against two of its MLAs for cross-voting as the party was still considered a separate group in the Assembly.
The one-year-old Kiran Kumar Reddy government received a breather when a no confidence motion tabled by the Telugu Desam Party and backed by the entire Opposition was defeated by a wide margin of 38 votes. It won the confidence of the Assembly by 160-122 votes.
If the 16 MLAs get disqualified, the government's strength in the House will go down to 137, way below the half-way mark in the 294-member Assembly.
