The Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker had acted on the disqualification petitions of the YSR Congress and the TDP against its MLAs. He disqualified eight MLAs, four each from the two parties.
The MLAs included Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi from the YSR Congress, Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthy, Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan, Maddali Giridhar and Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar from the TDP.
The two parties have petitioned against their MLAs alleging that they have crossed the floor in violation of the Anti-Defection Law. The provisions of the Anti-Defection Act would attract these MLAs, the two parties told the speaker.
The ruling YSR Congress took the decision first in the eve of the Rajya Sabha elections. The party thought that the TDP would field its candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections, and its four MLAs would vote for the TDP. The party had first submitted the letter to the Speaker, followed by the TDP.
The four MLAs from the YSR Congress have defected during the MLC elections in which Panchumarthy Anuradha filed as candidate from the TDP. The YSR Congress lost the MLC seat to the TDP with the defection of these four MLAs.
In the TDP, the four MLAs have become the associate members of the ruling party from 2020 to 2022. Vallabhaneni Vamsi was the first to cross the floor, followed by Maddali Giridhar, Vasupalli Ganesh and Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthy.
