Strange are the ways of Telugu Desam Party’s legislative council member in Andhra Pradesh and former minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasad.
He announced his resignation from the council membership hours before the three capitals bill and APCRDA repeal bill came up before the council for discussion. He said he was quitting the post in protest against the three capitals bill.
Strangely, he did not send his resignation letter to council chairman but to party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
If he opposed the three capitals, he should have attended the council meeting and opposed it openly, but he indirectly favoured the YSRC by abstaining from voting.
If Dokkka really wanted to join the YSRC, he should have done it openly. But till now, he didn’t even resign from his TDP membership.
More than a week later, Dokka surfaced again and made some more strange comments. He said he had resigned from the council membership because he did not want the way the TDP dealt with the issue.
“My thoughts are different from that of the TDP. I didn’t want to be part of the chaotic atmosphere in the council and hence, I kept away from the council proceedings on that day,” he said.
Strangely, he said he was hurt at the way the legislative council had referred the two bills to the select committee.
"Such incidents are unfortunate to occur in a constitutional body like council,” he said.
What does he mean? Does Dokka want the YSRC to go ahead with three capitals formation? If that is the case, why did he oppose it in the beginning and resign from the MLC post?
Interestingly, Dokka also said he was not happy with the abolition of the legislative council by the YSRC government. This is all the more confusing. When Dokka himself did not want to be part of the council, what difference does it make for him if the council is abolished?
What is stranger is that Dokka, while saying that he had a lot of differences with the TDP leadership, expressed solidarity with the Amaravati farmers.
He said he had seen the plight of the Amaravati farmers who gave the lands for the construction of capital. He made it clear that he would stand by them until the justice is met.
