The MLA who have defected to TRS are in a state of shock. They had no clue that Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar would accept their resignations today.
They were smug that their letters would be not be accepted, considering that the Speaker would reject resiganations of 61 other MLAs.
Late in the night, the Speaker has simultaneously rejected resignations of 61 TRS and Telagnana TDP MLAs.
Interestingly, the MLAs who crossed over to TRS from Congress and TDP were the ones to receive the bad news.
With the latest decision, as many as 7 MLA seats have fallen vacant in the state. These are Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Nellore, Kollapur, Kamareddy, Station Ghanpur, Chennur,
Of the four resignations accepted, two are from Congress (Rajaiah of Station Ghanpur and Jupally Krishna Rao of Kollapur) and the other two are from TDP (Gampa Govardhan (Kamareddy), Jogu Ramanna (Chennur).
The four MLAs were not exactly looking towards an acceptance of their resignation. Though they have resigned from their respective parties, they still nursed hopes that they would be able to continue as MLAs, the way Congress MLAs loyal to Jagan have been doing.
Sources close to the Speaker say that all the MLAs without exception till date conveyed directly or indirectly that they would prefer to continue as MLAs. Even Nagam Janardhan Reddy and Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy were not prepared to lose their status, but had to bite the bullet.
Likewise, even these four MLAs who have now shifted loyalties were hopeful that the Speaker would not take a decision in favour of resignations. The move is being seen as a punishment for joining hands with the TRS.
TRS party too was taken aback by the decision. Party leaders Harish Rao and KTR said the Speaker’s decision appeared biased. Now, the onus of ensuring the victory of these four MLAs in the by-polls is on TRS. The pink party seems to be caught unawares at the pace with which the developments have unfolded.
