Jagan MLAs plan new strategies

HYDERABAD: The YSR Congress has decided that MLAs loyal to its leader Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will support the no-confidence motion to be moved by the TDP against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in the Assembly. But there’s a caveat: only if the TDP demonstrates its ‘sincerity’.This was decided at a meeting of 21 MLAs -- most of them nominally in the Congress -- at the residence of Jagan Mohan Reddy at Lotus Pond in Hyderabad Thursday. The meeting was convened with the ostensible purpose of discussing their strategy if the TDP moves a no-trust motion in the winter session of the Assembly beginning Dec. 2. But equally it was meant to show that most of the MLAs who declared loyalty to Jagan continue to be with him despite reports of migration of MLAs in recent days.However, seven of the 28 legislators whose support is claimed by Jagan’s party did not attend the meeting Thursday. They are: Jayasudha, K Bharathi, N Sesha Reddy,  Alla Nani, K Srinivasulu, G Srikanth Reddy (all Cong) and Y Balanagireddy (TDP).Jagan Mohan Reddy himself did not attend, as he is doing his Odarpu shows in Guntur district. But he was reportedly in touch with the MLAs who turned up at his residence.In recent days, there has been pressure on the Jagan MLAs to declare support to the Kiran Kumar Reddy government. The tactics appeared to have paid off with Bhadrachalam MLA K Satyavathi moving closer to Kiran Reddy. But she was among those who turned up at Lotus Pond on Thursday. However, as the meeting was about to begin, Sesha Reddy and Bharathi declared their support to the government. Sesha Reddy later met PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana as well. One of the questions considered at the meeting was whether or not to press for acceptance or rejection of their resignations, or leave it to the speaker to take a decision on his own. It was decided not to insist on the speaker’s acceptance. For this tactical device, the J campers managed to obtain the permission of their leader.As for the other issue on the agenda, the noconfidence motion, Nellore MP M Rajamohan Reddy told reporters after the meeting that the YSR Congress doubted TDP president Chandrababu Naidu’s sincerity on the vote since he has recently stated that there would be no threat to the state government till 2014. To prove his sincerity, the TDP boss must make all his party MLAs from Telangana and Seemandhra present in the Assembly at the time of the vote. If that condition is fulfille, and only then would the J camp MLAs support the no-trust motion.If this sounds like the opening of an exit door, it is because the no-trust vote presents the Jagan-loyalist MLAs a ticklish problem: in event of the TDP moving a no-confidence motion, a party whip would be in force, and they risk disqualification if they do not support the Congress government.Many of the MLAs are said to be loathe to losing the rest of their term. Therefore, the insistence that the TDP had better be sincere.