TD ploy to embarrass Jagan

Strategic move to woo YSRCP MLAs to attend Assembly

Hyderabad: Faced with embarrassment of conducting the proceedings of the State Assembly without the Opposition, speculations are rife that the TDP is in touch with senior party leaders of the YSRCP to explore and see if it could convince some of them to attend the Assembly.

Though a senior party leader of the TDP said they were not keen on engineering a split in the YSRCP but would welcome if some of them realise the importance of the Assembly and participate in the proceedings.The sources said that YSRCP president Jaganmohan Reddy had not issued any whip to any member not to attend the Assembly. The government had suspended only eight members till Monday and hence if anyone wanted to attend the session, they are free to do so.

Meanwhile, there are reports that some of the YSRCP MLAs are not happy with the “unilateral decision” of the party chief who had announced that he would not enter the Assembly till the Speaker accepted the notice of no-confidence motion. In fact, when Jagan got up to stage a walkout soon after eight MLAs were suspended, some senior leaders of the YSRCP had tried to stop him from staging a walkout.

It may be mentioned here that when Jagan convened a meeting of the legislature party about 25 MLAs did not attend the meeting. Though the party tried to explain their absence saying that the MLAs were busy in their constituencies, sources say that they are upset with the confrontationist attitude of Jagan and are of the opinion that he is depriving them of getting necessary funds from the government for development of their constituencies.

The stand taken by Jagan against the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project (PLIP) too has not gone well with some of the party MLAs. Sources say that the MLAs from Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa are under pressure from lower rung leaders not to oppose the decision of the government to supply water to the drought-affected areas of these districts. They say that the recent efforts made by the TDP government to supply water were a good gesture and if the YSRCP opposed Pattiseema it might send a wrong signal among the people that they were against bringing water to the droug affected areas.

This being the situation, the party leaders want the MLAs to talk to Jagan and see that the party chief softens his stand on these issue.According to unconfirmed sources, the TDP is trying to cash in on this situation and encourage those who want to attend the Assembly and see that at least over 20 members attend the session.However, TDP sources said there was no move from their side to engineer a split in the YSRCP.

“It is a fact that many of the YSRCP leaders are in touch with us and want to join TDP but we are not ready to take them and get a bad name but would welcome if they attend the proceedings of the Assembly,” they said. There is speculation that the Speaker may not accept the notice for no-confidence. Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, while speaking to the media on Sunday, clarified that there was no truth in the allegations made by the leader of Opposition.

Rao said all that he had done was to regulate the time but it was the leader of Opposition who levelled several allegations against him. The YSRCP strategists will be holding a meeting with Jagan on Monday at Lotus Pond to review the situation and decide next course of action, party sources said.

V Ramu Sarma