The Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh has given a notice for a no-confidence motion against the ruling Congress government for its ‘failure’ to solve farmer problems.
The TDP served the notice on the Legislative Assembly secretary, S Raj Sadaram, on Thursday and sought convening of the House for taking up the no-trust motion.
TDP president, N Chandrababu Naidu, told mediapersons that his party was forced to take this step as the Congress government headed by chief minister, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, had lost the confidence of the people.
He emphasised that his party’s move in this regard was aimed more at highlighting the problems of the people and making the state government accountable rather than regaining power.
TDP has 90 legislators in the 294-member Assembly while the Congress has a strength of 155. The Praja Rajyam Party, which is on the verge of merging with the Congress, has 18 members. The Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen, another supporter of the ruling party, has seven legislators.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), all staunch protagonists of a separate statehood for the Telangana region, have 11, four and two members respectively.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Lok Satta Party and the recently floated YSR Congress Party have one member each. There are three independents. One TDP legislator, P Srinivas Reddy, resigned from the Assembly in protest against the party’s stand on Telangana.
Till recently, the TDP appeared reluctant to move a no-confidence motion despite the rebel Congress leader and founder of YSR Congress, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, taunting it to do so.
Jagan, as the son of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy is popularly called, has time and again alleged that “there is a match-fixing between the TDP and the Congress and hence the Opposition party is not moving a no-confidence motion.”
In response, the TDP challenged Jagan to approach the state Governor if he had the required support from Congress legislators to dethrone the ruling party in the state.
In fact, the strength of Jagan'’ group is yet to be demonstrated on the floor of the House. This could as well be known when there would be voting on the no-trust motion.
The TDP’s no-trust move comes in the wake of the government’s decision to convene a special session of the Assembly and Legislative Council on June 4 or 6 to elect a new Speaker and Chairperson respectively.
