TDP rebel MLA Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy, who quit from his post and the party, today held a protest in the Assembly premises here demanding that his resignation as a MLA be accepted immediately.
Accompanied by MLAs and TRS leaders, Mr. Reddy, who has already joined the party, spearheading the Telangana movement, sat agitating at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the AP House premises.
“Almost a week has passed since I submitted my resignation to the Deputy Speaker. So far it has not been accepted. I demand that my resignation be accepted immediately,” he told reporters.
Replying to a query, he said it is meaningless for TDP to demand his disqualification as he himself quit the party.
Mr. Reddy, who represented Banswada constituency in Nizamabad district, said he will continue his protest till his resignation is accepted.
The Deputy Speaker N Manohar, who is the officiating Speaker, was not present in the Assembly.
TRS floor leader in the Assembly E Rajender alleged that there is a conspiracy in the Deputy Speaker not accepting the resignation of Reddy.
The ruling Congress and Telugu Desam have indulged in “match-fixing” and the Deputy Speaker is not accepting Srinivasa Reddy’s resignation accordingly, he claimed.
The Congress and TDP knew that they will be defeated in the ensuing bypolls, if Mr. Reddy’s resignation is accepted, he alleged.
Meanwhile, senior TDP MLA D Narendra wondered what the TRS has to do with its rebel MLA’s resignation issue.
“We demanded Mr. Srinivasa Reddy’s disqualification because he was indulging in anti-party activities. Disqualification is necessary to safeguard moral values and party discipline. What does TRS have to do with our rebel MLA?” Mr. Narendra said.
“TRS suspended three party MLAs for violating party whip in legislative council polls. They said they will hand over the resignations of the three MLAs to the Speaker. Why they are not doing that? Instead of bothering about its own MLAs, TRS is indulging in politics,” the TDP MLA said.
Meanwhile, TDP MLAs D Umamaheswara Rao and Vallbhaneni Vamsi resigned for their District and Urban Committee President posts owing to alleged internal rivalry and fight for supremacy in district affairs.
Mr. Rao announced this morning that he submitted his resignation from TDP’s Krishna District President post and immediately, on the other hand, Mr. Vamsi quit from Vijayawada Urban Committee’s President post. With this, TDP in Krishna district has virtually divided into two major groups.
Though there are differences among leaders from TDP in Krishna district for long, they broke open on Wednesday when Rajya Sabha member Nandamuri Harikrishna toured the area.
Mr. Harikrishna visited Challapalli village in the district to inaugurate Railway Reservation counter at the post office.
On the same day, the local leaders arranged some other party programmes but he left that place without attending the programmes.
Following this, other legislators from the District and Urban Committee President expressed their displeasure and held Umamaheswara Rao responsible for Mr. Krishna’s absence in local party programme. Then both groups issued statements and counter-statements on their way of functioning in the party which culminated in the announcement of their resignations.
However, Mr. Rao said he is committed to serve the party and be active in future to lead it in the coming local bodies elections.
