The Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker had acted on the disqualification petitions of the YSR Congress and the TDP against its MLAs. He disqualified eight MLAs, four each from the two parties.
YSR Congress MLAs, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi, TDP MLAs Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthy, Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan, Maddali Giridhar and Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, were disqualified for the rest of the term of the Assembly.
The two parties have petitioned against their MLAs alleging that they have crossed the floor in violation of the Anti-Defection Law. The provisions of the Anti-Defection Act would attract these MLAs, the two parties told the speaker.
In the TDP, the four MLAs have become the associate members of the ruling party from 2020 to 2022. Vallabhaneni Vamsi was the first to cross the floor, followed by Maddali Giridhar, Vasupalli Ganesh and Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthy.
The four MLAs from the YSR Congress have defected during the MLC elections in which Panchumarthy Anuradha filed as candidate from the TDP. The YSR Congress lost the MLC seat to the TDP with the defection of these four MLAs.
The ruling YSR Congress took the decision first on the eve of the Rajya Sabha elections. The party thought that the TDP would field its candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections, and its four MLAs would vote for the TDP. The party had first submitted the letter to the Speaker, followed by the TDP.
Though the Rajya Sabha elections were held unanimously, the speaker took the decision and disqualified the members. The TDP did not field its candidate as expected, giving a sigh of relief to the ruling YSR Congress.
