Political circles in Andhra Pradesh are agog with rumours that Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asked the four newly-inducted ministers, who belong to the YSR Congress party but defected to the TDP in the past, to resign from their assembly membership and contest the by-elections again.
According to these rumours, Naidu does not want to give any scope for criticism from any quarters that he is adopting double standards in giving cabinet berths to the defected YSRC MLAs – Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao, N Amarnath Reddy, Bhuma Akhila Priya and C Adinarayan Reddy, since he had strongly opposed the induction of Talasani Srinivasa Yadav into the cabinet of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao though he got elected on the TDP ticket in 2014.
YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has already made it a big issue and submitted a memorandum to Governor E S L Narasimhan to this effect.
And the Governor, too, reportedly advised Naidu to get the four ministers resign from their MLA posts to avoid any legal problems in future.
Naidu has, in fact, took the decision much earlier to ask the four ministers to quit their assembly membership. That is why he has chosen only those who are strong leaders in their respective constituencies.
Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao and N Amarnath Reddy can win their seats irrespective of whether they are in the TDP or the YSRC.
Bhuma Akhila Priya can also win without much problem because of the sympathy factor following her father’s death. Adinarayan Reddy is also a tough candidate and if the TDP can really work hard, he can also win the seat.
So, Naidu is confident that by putting some extra effort, he can get all the four ministers re-elected so that he can ward off criticism from the opposition parties in both Andhra and Telangana. Hence, he is said to be asking the defected ministers to resign.
It remains to be seen whether it is just a rumour or will Naidu really take such a decision.
