All Parties MLCs Elected Unopposed in AP

In Andhra Pradesh, all the 10 nominees who entered the fray in the elections to the State Legislative Council in the MLA quota were elected unopposed. The Congress got five of its nominees, the Telugu Desam Party three and YSR Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi one each elected to the Council.

The elected candidates are: Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and Lakshmi Siva Kumari (got their membership renewed), Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Santosh Kumar and Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy [all Congress]; Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Md Saleem and Samanthakamani (all TDP), Adireddy Appa Rao (YSRC) and Mehmood Ali (TRS).

Would the Muslims cast their votes based on who was chosen by the respective parties? Certainly not. They always had solid reasons for exercising their franchise in favour of a particular political party. The votes of the CPI (4), the CPI-M (1), the MIM (7), Independents (2, Lok Satha (1) and several rebel MLAs in the Congress and the TDP have all gone waste, as there was no election to the Council.

Ironically, all parties, except the Congress, marginally fell short of the required numbers. Technically, it’s the TRS which hit upon a jackpot in the bargain without asking anybody’s support. A reason for KCR to celebrate.

The Congress was left with 14 extra MLAs, for all its candidates would have got elected without any hassle in the first preference votes itself. The party which wavered till the last minute to field a sixth candidate on its behalf suddenly remained silent. Sources said that the Congress high command and some seniors within the  party too negated the idea of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy which was instantly bought by APCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana in his exuberance upon having his say in the selection of party nominees.

The Chief Minister brought the contestant also to the Assembly secretariat and made Minister D Sridhar Babu in-charge of the process of fielding the sixth candidate. Sridhar Babu was told to wait for the beckoning of the Chief Minister. But Delhi dialed and told Kiran not to take any risk.

As many as seven MLAs who crossed over to the YSR Congress would have gone with that party, and yet the Congress would have had 14 MLAs within. Had it not rubbed the MIM on the wrong side, it could have tried for some others. But it pushed itself into a precarious position. It had to insulate itself by spreading a rumour that the Speaker might accept the resignation of the legislators who had already submitted and pursue the disqualification of others. By doing so, it could successfully nip any thought of fielding a second candidate by the YSR Congress in the bud.

Interestingly, sources said that the acceptance of resignations too would  be put off for sometime, as it could be a weapon to safeguard the Government in the event of a no-confidence motion coming up against the State Government. The Speaker might consider disqualification of rebel MLAs of the ruling Congress and the TDP too so as to adjust the magic figure.

The ruling party feels that it is not yet time for cracking the whip. The enigma of whether the Government would survive a trust vote persists and the outcome is not foreseeable.