6 MLCs ask Council chairman to accept their resignations

Vijayawada: Six members of Legislative Council met Council Chairman K Moshen Raju on Monday, days after the High Court directed the presiding officer to decide on resignation letters submitted by legislators within a fixed time frame of not more than 30 days.

Jayamangala Venkataramana, who had approached the court over the delay in accepting his resignation, handed over a copy of the court order to the Chairman and requested him to take an early decision. Venkataramana, who was elected to the Legislative Council on the YSRCP ticket, submitted his resignation and joined the Jana Sena Party on November 23, 2024.

The resignations of five other MLCs are also pending with the Council Chairman. They all were elected on a YSRCP ticket but submitted their resignations after the party lost power last year. However, the Chairman had neither accepted nor rejected their resignations. Council Deputy Chairperson Zakia Khanam, Pothula Sunitha, B Kalyan Chakravarthi, Padmasri and Marri Rajasekhar are the other MLCs who called on the chairman on Monday and urged him to take a decision on their resignations.

On Venkataramana’s petition, the High Court on November 27 directed the Chairman to complete the enquiry into the resignation and take a decision within four weeks. A single-judge bench termed the prolonged inaction in taking a decision by the Chairman as "illegal, arbitrary, and abuse of the process".