With the resignations of Venkata Ramana and Mastan Rao, the YSRCP strength in Rajya Sabha will come down to nine from 11.
Published Aug 29, 2024 | 6:10 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 29, 2024 | 6:10 PM
Mopidevi Venkata Ramana and Beeda Mastan Rao
After the YSRCP went down like the Titanic in the recent Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, its leaders are swimming through the choppy waters to join the ruling TDP.
On Thursday, 29 August, two YSRCP Rajya Sabha MPs Mopidevi Venkata Ramana and Beeda Mastan Rao bid adieu to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s company. The move weakens YSRCP’s position further on the bargaining table with the BJP for passage of bills.
The MPs called on Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar in Delhi and submitted their resignations in the appropriate format, requesting him to accept them.
The two leaders have already announced that they had resigned from the YSRCP. Venkata Ramana said he would soon be joining the TDP, but the next step for Beeda Mastan Rao is unknown. To a question from reporters in Delhi, he said cryptically that Chandrababu Naidu was his boss in the past and that his brother Ravi Chandra is now in the TDP.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has already said he would be very selective in admitting YSRCP leaders into the TDP.
He made it clear that those who intend to don yellow robes would have to resign first and then he would take a call whether to admit them or not. He said he would have a background check on them before taking any decision.
Since the TDP does not need any additions now, Naidu can dictate terms to those who intend to join the party ranks.
Venkata Ramana, before calling on Jagdeep Dhankar, said he was very unhappy with the YSRCP leadership since Jagna Mohan Reddy’s decisions in his Guntur district were not very palatable to him.
He said people could not have given a worse verdict against the YRSCP in the recent Assembly elections. Several YSRCP leaders are keeping aloof from party activities and some are trying to find a toe hold in TDP.
He hoped he would get a position in the TDP commensurate with his experience in public life. He advised YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to make a visceral dissection of his decisions, which led the party to its Waterloo.
Venkata Ramana was with Jagan Mohan Reddy through thick and thin since the inception of the party. When Rajasekhar Reddy was the chief minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, Venkata Ramana who hails from fishermen’s community from the Guntur district, was his close confidant.
After Rajasekhar Reddy’s demise, he joined the Jagan Mohan Reddy camp. In 2019, Venkata Ramana lost the election despite Jagan Mohan Reddy wave. Even then Jagan Mohan Reddy took him into his cabinet and later made him an MLC. He later sent Venkata Ramana to Rajya Sabha.
Ahead of the 2024 elections, fissures began developing between him and Jagan Mohan Reddy. Ramana Rao who was never interested in going to the Rajya Sabha, wanted him fielded in the Assembly elections.
However, Jagan Mohan Reddy refused him a ticket. In 2012, when Venkata Ramana went to jail in the disproportionate assets case, he used to be in touch with Jagan Mohan Reddy who was lodged in the same prison.
With the resignations of Venkata Ramana and Mastan Rao, the YSRCP strength in Rajya Sabha will come down to nine from 11.
As the TDP has an unassailable majority in the Assembly, the two seats in Rajya Sabha that fell vacant will go to the yellow party. The party has not yet indicated whether the outgoing MPs would be renominated, or fresh faces would be brought in. At present, the TDP has no presence in the upper House of Parliament.
In another shock to the YSRCP, MLC Pothula Suneetha resigned on Wednesday. She sent a letter to Jagan Moha Reddy that she was resigning from the party and simultaneously sent her resignation as MLC to the council chairman.
She was elected to the council on 24 March, 2021. In another jarring development for the YSRCP, Eluru mayor Shaik Noorjahan and her husband SMR Peda Babu had recently joined the TDP in the presence of party general secretary Nara Lokesh.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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