TDP to approach court to allow Ganta to vote in RS election

Visakhapatnam: The acceptance of resignation letter submitted by Visakhapatnam North MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao nearly three years ago in protest again the Centre’s decision for strategic disinvestment of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant will be challenged legally, Telugu Desam Party leaders declared here on Wednesday.Assembly Speaker Thammineni Sitharaman issued a notification on Tuesday accepting the resignation letter ahead of biennial elections due for three seats in the Rajya Sabha. “With many MLAs and MPs making a beeline to other parties from YSRCP, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has pressed panic buttons by accepting the resignation letter three years after it was submitted. There is also a conspiracy to disqualify some MLAs who left YSRCP under anti-defection law while not initiating action against those who joined YSRCP from TDP and Jana Sena,” former Minister and TDP State vice-president Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy said.

Ganta told the media that he had no regrets over acceptance of the resignation as he was hurt over Centre’s decision to privatise RINL in January, 2021. My intention to submit the resignation leader in the Speaker’s format was to stall the privatisation attempt by exerting pressure on the YSRCP government to take it up with the Centre.”

He said now elections will be held in two to three months and whether someone is an MLA or not does not matter. However, he declared that the legal cell of TDP and his personal lawyers will seek permission to vote for Rajya Sabha elections as the timing of accepting the resignation is controversial.

Biennial elections will be held for three Rajya Sabha seats due to vacancies being created due to completion of tenure by Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy (YSRCP), Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar (TDP) and CM Ramesh (elected on TDP ticket and later crossed over to BJP).

YSRCP has 151 MLAs. However some of the MLAs upset over denial of tickets have decided to join the Opposition parties. TDP leaders said over 50 MLAs will quit YSRCP due to either denial of ticket or change in their constituencies diminishing the ruling party’s chances to win all the three seats. TDP had won an extra MLC seat sometime ago due to ‘cross-voting’ by some of the MLAs belonging to the ruling party last year.