HYDERABAD:The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday appeared to be heading for fresh trouble with 29 MLAs, loyal to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, deciding to quit in protest against mention of late YSR’s name in the FIR of CBI in its probe in the case related to the Kadapa MP.
“It is unfortunate that his name is mentioned by CBI in FIR. In protest, we are all resigning from our membership. 29 MLAs and two MPs are going to resign,” Congress MP M Rajamohan Reddy told reporters here.
The two Congress MPs who have decided to quit are Rajamohan Reddy (Nellore) and Sabbam Hari (Anakapalle).
The 29 MLAs include B Sobha Nagi Reddy, a rebel MLA of Praja Rajyam, and two rebel MLAs of TDP.
The MLAs would submit their resignations to the Assembly Speaker at 11 am tomorrow, Congress MLA P Subhash Chandra Bose said.
Three Jagan-loyalist Congress MLAs – Konda Surekha, Jayasudha and K Satyawati – had earlier submitted their resignations in support of Telangana cause.
The decision by the 29 Jagan-loyalist MLAs and two MPs came in the wake of searches by CBI at the residence and offices of Jagan and also the companies who invested in the firms owned by the Kadapa MP.
The CBI has alleged that Jaganmohan Reddy conspired with his father late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and other individuals and companies to “cheat the government of Andhra Pradesh in the matter of granting certain favours.”
In its FIR in the case related to Jagan, a copy of which was filed in a special court here, the CBI charged that he “exercised his influence” on his (late) father, then Chief Minister, and also unknown public servants of the state government, who in turn abused their official positions by corrupt or illegal means and issued orders favourable to many companies.
In the event of the Assembly Speaker accepting the resignation of the 29 MLAs, it may cause a fresh headache to the Congress as it would enjoy a slender margin over the magic figure of 148 in the 294-member House.
With Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam now merging with Congress, the strength of the ruling party goes up to 173 and it can also count on the support of MIM (7) and three Independents. That takes the strength of Congress to 183.
With Jagan claiming the support of 29 MLAs, the Congress is still left with 154 MLAs – six more that the half-way mark of 148.
A number of Congress MLAs from Telangana region had resigned from their posts earlier in support of the separate statehood cause but their resignations were rejected by the Speaker on the ground that they were submitted in a fit of emotion.With over 25 Congress MLAs deciding to resign for sake of Jagan, their counterparts from Telangana may come under increased pressure to quit their posts for the separate statehood cause.Talking about the plans of Jagan loyalists to quit their posts, state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana appealed to them earlier in the day not to fall prey to Jagan’s “conspiracy”.(PTI)