On the eve of the maiden session of the newly-constituted 13th Assembly, cracks have developed in the Grand Alliance (GA) with the Telugu Desam (TDP) summarily rejecting the government’s request to support the candidature of N. Kiran Kumar Reddy as Speaker and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) endorsing the choice.
Other opposition parties outside the GA also took a different stand. The MIM, the BJP and the Lok Satta indicated that they would support the Congress nominee while the Praja Rajyam said it would announce its decision on Wednesday.
The TDP leadership not only spurned the ruling party’s request but was also mulling different options — fielding senior legislator, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, boycotting the election or merely registering its resentment. TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu held two rounds of discussion with party leaders after Finance Minister K. Rosaiah telephoned him to seek his support. A party spokesman said a final decision would be taken on Wednesday morning. Apart from trying to be seen as aggressive considering that its strength in the Assembly has almost doubled from 47 to 92, the TDP is averse to seeing Mr. Reddy in the Speaker’s chair. As Government Chief Whip in the last Assembly, he became Mr. Naidu’s bete noire by often criticising him.
Addressing a press conference, TDP MLAs N. Janardhan Reddy and R. Chandrasehkhar Reddy said it would have been better had the ruling party proposed the name of someone, who was non-controversial and acceptable to all. Asked if they found Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy to be “controversial”, Mr. Janardhan Reddy shot back “don’t you know?”
Other opposition parties outside the GA also took a different stand. The MIM, the BJP and the Lok Satta indicated that they would support the Congress nominee while the Praja Rajyam said it would announce its decision on Wednesday.
The TDP leadership not only spurned the ruling party’s request but was also mulling different options — fielding senior legislator, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, boycotting the election or merely registering its resentment. TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu held two rounds of discussion with party leaders after Finance Minister K. Rosaiah telephoned him to seek his support. A party spokesman said a final decision would be taken on Wednesday morning. Apart from trying to be seen as aggressive considering that its strength in the Assembly has almost doubled from 47 to 92, the TDP is averse to seeing Mr. Reddy in the Speaker’s chair. As Government Chief Whip in the last Assembly, he became Mr. Naidu’s bete noire by often criticising him.
Addressing a press conference, TDP MLAs N. Janardhan Reddy and R. Chandrasehkhar Reddy said it would have been better had the ruling party proposed the name of someone, who was non-controversial and acceptable to all. Asked if they found Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy to be “controversial”, Mr. Janardhan Reddy shot back “don’t you know?”
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