The absence of TDP MLA from Repalle Anagani Satyaprasad from voting in the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh created an embarrassing situation for the party leadership.
For, there had been a talk in the party for quite some time, that Satyaprasad might take a plunge into the ruling YSR Congress party. He, however, denied the talk and said he would continue to be in the TDP.
But on Friday, Satyaprasad abstained from voting in the Rajya Sabhya elections in which the TDP fielded politburo member Varla Ramaiah for the record sake, though the chances of his winning are bleak. The TDP also issued a whip to all the MLAs to see that the rebels could get exposed.
While it was expected that three rebel MLAs – Vallabhaneni Vamsi, Karanam Balaram and Maddali Giridhar – would defy the party whip, nobody expected that Satyaprasad would also give a slip to the party, causing a lot of embarrassment to party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
However, the party in the afternoon released to the media a letter purported to have written by Satyaprasad to Naidu, stating that he was not in a position to participate in the voting because he was under self-quarantine at his residence in the wake of Corona virus.
In the letter, Satyaprasad told Naidu that he had recently met Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA from Jangaon Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy on a business purpose.
“He tested positive for coronavirus and the doctors advised me that I should also go into quarantine for 14 days. That is precisely, I am not able to attend the voting in the RS elections,” he said.
The Repalle MLA clarified that he had taken the decision only to ensure that he could not pass on the virus to others.
“I am a strong loyalist of the TDP and I will be on the forefront to help the party whenever it required my services. I will always be available to the party in the future,” he explained.
The authenticity of this letter could not be verified, but the party has released the letter to media only to stop speculation over Satyaprasad’s absence in the polling for RS seats.
