AP Assembly Speaker Thammineni Sitharam had issued notices to eight MLAs representing the ruling YSR Congress and the opposition TDP. He asked them to attend before him on January 29 and give their explanation.

Those who received the notice from the speaker included, Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan, Karanam Balaramakrishna Murthy, Maddali Giridhar and Vasupalli Ganesh from the TDP and Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi from the YSR Congress.

The TDP also wrote a letter to the speaker seeking action against its four MLAs who defected to the ruling YSR Congress. While Vamsi Mohan had defected to the party early in 2020, the other MLAs defected to the party in 2021. They have become associate members of the ruling party. The TDP sought their disqualification for the floor crossing.

The speaker had asked the ruling YSR Congress MLAs to appear before him in the morning hours of January 29, while the TDP MLAs were asked to appear before him in the afternoon hours on the day.

The YSR Congress had sought the disqualification of the four MLAs on the ground that they were suspended from the party. The party had written to the speaker requesting him to take action against the four MLAs. The MLAs were suspended following the charge that they voted for the TDP candidate in the MLC elections.

The decision was taken as the Rajya Sabha elections are fast approaching. The RS elections are scheduled in March this year. Three members from the Upper House are scheduled to retire in April this year. Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar of the TDP, C M Ramesh of the BJP, and Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy of the YSR Congress are retiring in April and the election will be held in March.

The TDP would fall short of 19 MLAs and will not have strength to field its candidate. The ruling YSR Congress would have a cake walk in the elections. The ruling YSR Congress is likely to win all the three Rajya Sabha seats once the eight MLAs are suspended.