The resignation letter of the ruling TDP's MLA from Gannavaram in Krishna district, Vallabhaneni Vamsi, caused a mild stir in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly lobby today.
Nara Lokesh, IT minister and son of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, needed to intervene to defuse the situation.
According to sources, the attitude of an official at the Chief Minister's Office was said to have prompted the legislator to take the decision to quit in a fit of rage.
Vamsi was said to have gone to the CM's office with some farmers from his constituency with the plea to not shift the Delta Sugars unit from Hanuman Junction to Tanuku as the livelihood of the farmers depended on it. However, he was stopped at the gate by an official who wanted the legislator to talk to him first as it would not be possible for him to meet the Chief Minister then.
There were some heated exchanges between the duo which even saw the official chiding Vamsi resulting in the latter deciding to put in his papers.
While Vamsi was going to the Speaker's chambers with his resignation letter, another TDP MLA Bode Prasad stopped him, snatched the letter and tore it. He then immediately took the matter to the notice of Lokesh, and the latter sent the minister for power and the state TDP president Kala Venkata Rao to pacify Vamsi.