Monday is set to be a crucial day in the political history of Andhra Pradesh. Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar is likely to announce his decision on 3 important matters, of which 2 decisions could have an impact on state politics.
The Speaker is likely to give his decision on the fresh resignations submitted by suspended TDP leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy and 3 other TDP MLAs. They had resigned protesting against the Centre's failure to announce statehood for Telangana.
It was on 3 July that Nagam had submitted his resignation for the first time. However, his resignation, along with those of others, was rejected by the Speaker on the grounds that they were submitted by 'emotionally surcharged' MLAs.
However, later, Nagam and his team submitted fresh resignation letters, this time in the prescribed format.
The Speaker has already completed the process of scrutiny and other verification with Nagam and his team, and is most likely to announce his decision on Monday. If the Speaker does accept Nagam's resignation, then it will lead to another round of resignations by Telangana MLAs.
The process of acceptance or rejection of resignations submitted by the
29 pro-Jagan MLAs is also likely to move forward on Monday.
As many as 26 Congress MLAs, 2 TDP MLAs and one PRP MLA had resigned ostensibly in protest against the inclusion of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's name in the
CBI's FIR in Jagan's disproportionate assets case. Of them, 3 pro-Jagan MLAs - Konda Surekha, K Jayasudha and K Satyavathi - had earlier also resigned demanding statehood for Telangana.
The Speaker had, on Saturday, directed the Assembly Secretary to verify the signatures of the 26 MLAs who had resigned. Meanwhile, Government Whip Kondru Muralimohan had asked the Speaker to accept their resignations.
Analysts say that the Government Whip's clarification might facilitate the Speaker to accept the resignation based on rules and regulations. Once accepted, these 26 assembly constituencies will go for by-polls.
Due to the PRP-Congress merger, as well as external support extended by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government continues to enjoy a majority in the House, with a figure of 148 MLAs.
The acceptance of these resignations will reduce the count of MLAs to 123, helping Kiran Kumar Reddy sail through the current crisis.
The Speaker is also likely to decide the fate of MLA N Prassanakumar Reddy, a Jagan loyalist within the Congress. He had earlier defected to the Congress in 2009 after getting elected on a TDP ticket.
In view of these developments, Monday is likely to prove crucial for Telangana, Jagan, as well as the CM, with the epicentre of these political activities being the state Legislative Assembly.
Now all eyes would be set on Nadendla Manohar, who is taking probably the toughest decisions that any Speaker has ever taken. (INN)