The YSR Congress party and the TDP MPs on Tuesday traded charges, as the former geared up to make another trip to Delhi to meet the Lok Sabha Speaker and press for their resignations. The latter called it a “drama”.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has given the MPs appointment at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Addressing media in Nellore, senior MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy said it was for the Speaker to take a decision on the resignation letters submitted by the five on April 6, the last day of the Budget Session, demanding Special Category Status.
Refuting the TDP charges that they were stage managing the show of the Speaker not accepting the resignations, he said it was up to the Telugu Desam to bring pressure on the BJP to get it to accept them.
The TDP demanding that the YSR CP should do so was meaningless considering that the TDP MPs had not resigned, Mr. Rajamohan Reddy said.
On the other hand, the TDP MPs alleged that the YSRC MPs were enacting the resignation drama despite knowing that byelections would not be conducted even if their resignations were accepted as general elections were due in a less than one year.
Addressing a press conference here, TDP MPs Kesineni Srinivas and Konakalla Narayana Rao said YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was more worried about the corruption cases against him. Mr. Reddy wanted to come out of the cases come what may. Hence, the resignation drama. If they were sincere in their efforts, they would have tendered the resignations in 2016 itself when they first made the announcement. As per Section 151/A of People Representation Act, byelections would not be conducted if the general elections were due in less than a year. The YSR Congress MPs just waited for this time and then enacted the drama, they said.
Sivaprasad, TDP MP, said the YSR Congress was taking the people for a ride with their resignation drama. Mr. Jagan had been saying since 2015 that his MPs would resign if the SCS was not accorded. Placing cauliflower and lotus on his ears to ridicule the YSRC MPs , Mr. Sivaprasad alleged that they were following the script of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Panchayat Raj and IT Minister Nara Lokesh in his tweet said, “What a drama… They hoodwinked people and were hand in glove with the BJP. They ensured that their resignations would not necessitate byelections.” A movie, ‘A1..half a dozen thieves’ can be made with story of both YSR Congress and BJP, he said.