The ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh has identified two MLAs who voted against the party in the Legislative Council election held on Thursday to help the opposition TDP win one of the seven seats. The names of the two MLAs' are yet to be announced by YSRCP.
According to an IANS report, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, general secretary of the YSRCP and a government adviser on political matters, claimed to have identified two MLAs who resorted to cross-voting to help the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
"We have identified them but will not reveal their names at this stage. Action will be taken against them at an appropriate time," Ramakrishna Reddy was quoted as saying by IANS.
Anam Ramnarayan Reddy and Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy are believed to have voted for the TDP candidate. Anam and Kotamreddy, both from Nellore district, had recently raised a banner of revolt against the YSR Congress Party. Sajjala said they had not taken them into consideration while working out a strategy to win all seven seats.
The TDP's lone candidate, Panchumarthi Anuradha, won the seventh seat by securing 23 votes, one more than the required number. On Thursday, all 175 Assembly members voted, and the counting was completed in the evening.
YSRCP's V V Surya Narayana Raju, Pothula Sunitha, Bommi Israel, Chandragiri Yesuratnam, and Marri Rajasekhar were elected as they secured 22 votes each. Kola Guruvulu, also of the YSRCP, was declared elected on the basis of second preference votes.
In the 175-member Assembly, YSRCP has 151 members, and it was confident of securing the votes of four rebel MLAs of the TDP and the lone MLA of the Jana Sena Party (JSP).
The TDP, which had 23 seats in the Assembly, was left with 19 members as four others switched loyalties to the YSRCP.
Regarding the TDP's victory, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy stated that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu should explain how his candidate received 23 votes. He remarked that Naidu is a champion at luring legislators and that the YSRCP can't compete with him.