Jagan taunts Congress to disqualify rebels

HYDERABAD: YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday wanted all the 16 Congress MLAs who voted against the state government during the notrust motion to be disqualified at one go for violating the whip. At a press meet at his Lotus Pond residence, Jagan said: "Hats off to the MLAs who supported the farmers' cause in the Assembly during voting on the notrust motion last night."He said the Congress MLAs supported the notrust motion though they knew that they would be disqualified for violating the party whip. "The YSR Congress stands for credibility and sincere and immaculate politics," Jagan claimed.He said the YSRC was prepared for byelections and he would support his MLAs in their segments. The Congress bigwigs should stop playing politics, he said.
Jagan alleged TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu talked much on YS Rajasekhara Reddy and YSRC during the debate on the notrust motion and gave less priority to farmers' problems. "Naidu is known for his political manipulations," Jagan said.He said the Congress too tried to lure and threaten his loyalist MLAs to get their support. PCC chief B Satyanarayana and minister V Vasantha Kumar threatened K Baburao and Balaraju. The Congress also threatened CBI probe against the husband of Sucharita. It offered money to the MLAs. "I am proud of my MLAs who supported the notrust motion without yielding to the threats or inducements. They sacrificed their posts for the cause of farmers," he said.Jagan said the Congress lost the moral right to continue in office after the notrust vote. Asked about the CBI probe into illegal mining, Jagan said there was no mention of his name in the FIR. Jagan refused to answer any questions from the media and wanted his party leaders to give replies.At a separate press conference, YSRC leaders Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Konda Surekha and Shobha Nagireddy hoped that it would be a repeat of Kadapa and Pulivendula bypoll results, if byelections were held to the 16 Assembly segments after their disqualification. "We were doubtful over the support of MLAs to the noconfidence motion. But 16 Congress MLAs supported it," Surekha said.It may be recalled that 29 Congress MLAs owing allegiance to Jagan, submitted their resignations protesting the mention of YSR's name in the FIR filed by the CBI in the illegal assets case. "Some MLAs went back to the Congress. They might have their own reasons. We are not finding fault with them," Surekha said, adding Botcha, Vundavalli Aruna Kumar and KVP Ramachandra Rao lured Jagan loyalist MLAs.