The Opposition Telugu Desam Party has decided to move a no-confidence motion against the government on December 1, the first day of the winter session of the state legislative Assembly.
“We have decided to move the motion because of the all-round failure of the government in protecting the interests of farmers,” Payyavula Keshav, TDP senior legislator, informed the media on Tuesday.
The decision comes in the wake of increased criticism against the party of soft-pedaling with respect to government and also against the backdrop of court-instituted CBI probe against party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
However, the issue of no-confidence notice is unlikely to be taken up on day one as the house is expected to confine itself to the discussion on condolence motion in memory of a sitting member who died recently.
The government is also unlikely to collapse even if the TDP succeeds in getting it enlisted and debated in the house as numbers are barely in their favour. The TDP's strength in the house has come down to 83 in the 294-member assembly from 92 as 9 of them recently deserted the party .
However, parties such as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), CPI, CPI(M) and the BJP have announced to support the TDP’s move. But the party still needs to muster the support of another 25-odd members to outnumber the ruling party in the event of a division on the proposed motion to bring down the government, according to political observers.
This is a remote possibility since the 28 MLAs, who openly sided with the YSR Congress party of Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy, have softened their stand towards chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's government.
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On the other hand, the strength of Kiran's government increased after 17 MLAs from the Praja Rajyam Party joined the ruling Congress. The MIM with seven MLAs is supporting the government from outside.
The TDP also said it would press for a division when the voting on the no-confidence motion is taken up, apparently to corner YSR Congress and those Congress MLAs who had switched their loyalties to Jagan.