As many as eight MLAs out of 27 who joined the YSR Congress party abstained from a crucial meeting held by party president and Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy here on Thursday.
The meeting was held at Jagan's residence Lotus Pond at Banjara Hills to discuss the strategy to be adopted during the ensuing session of the legislative assembly starting from December 1. The meeting assumes importance in the wake of No Confidence Motion proposed to be moved by the Telugu Desam Party against the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government. However, eight MLAs who quit the Congress party to join Jagan's camp skipped the meeting.
The MLAs supporting Jagan Mohan Reddy are in a fix on what they should do if the Congress party issues a whip for the No Confidence Motion. If they vote against the government, then they could be disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law. However, they could not even support the Congress government openly.
"All MLAs will stand by whatever decision Jagan takes in this matter," Parakala MLA Konda Surekha told reporters at Lotus Pond. She said that the meeting was held to prepare party's strategy for the assembly session, especially for the proposed No Confidence Motion. When asked about MLAs rejoining the Congress party, she said anything was possible in politics. "Our MLAs may go back to Congress and their MLAs may join us anytime. This is politics," she said.
The MLAs who did not attend the meeting include Rayachoti MLA G Srikanth Reddy, Allanani (Nellore), K Satyavathi (Bhadrachalam), Balanagi Reddy (Mantralayam), Jayasudha (Secunderabad), K Srinivasulu (Railwaykodu), N Sesha Reddy (Anaparthy) and K Bharati (Tekkali). However, the party sources say a few MLAs abstained from the meeting due to personal reasons.
Besides Pulivendula MLA and Jagan's mother YS Vijayamma, the MLAs who participated in the meeting are - P Subhash Chandrabose, Amarnath Reddy, K Rambhupal Reddy, D Chandrasekhar, Chenna Keshava Reddy, Mekapati Chandrashekar, Shiva Prasad Reddy, Dharmana Krishna Das, Sucharita, B Srinivas Reddy, Balaraju, Babu Rao, Prasad Raju, Shobha Nagi Reddy, T Ravi, Ramkrishna Reddy, Kapu Ramchandra Reddy, Adi Narayana Reddy, Konda Surekha and Gurunath Reddy.