Assembly Speaker Disqualifies 15 Rebel MLAs

In what is surely going to be remembered as a significant and historic decision, Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar, on Saturday, disqualified 15 MLAs from the State Legislative Assembly, for defying the whips of their respective parties during the No Confidence Motion in March. Of the 15 disqualifed MLAs, nine belonged to the Congress party and six were from TDP.

The Congress MLAs who have been disqualified are Jogi Ramesh (Pedana), Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy (Punganur), Chandrasekhar Reddy (Kakinada), Maddali Rajesh Kumar (Chintalapudi), Perni Nani (Machilipatnam), Alla Nani (Eluru), Sujayakrishna Ranga Rao (Bobbili), Ravikumar(Addanki) and Buchepalli Sivaprasada Reddy(Darsi).

The disqualified TDP MLAs are Amaranatha Reddy (Palamaneru), Praveen Kumar Reddy (Thamballapalli), Kodali Nani (Gudivada), Sairaj (Ichhapuram), Taneti Vanitha(Gopalapuram) and Balanagireddy (Manthralayam).

During the disqualification procedure, almost all the MLAs told the Speaker that they had defied the whip intentionally, and want to be disqualified. As many as 14 MLAs joined the YSR Congress party later.

It is not yet known whether these 15 constituencies would go for by-elections in the near future, due to the fact that the Election Commission's rules do not allow for polls if the tenure of the House in question is less than a year. (INN)