One more sitting MLA from the ruling YSR Congress quit the party in protest against the denial of the party ticket for the coming general election. Rayadurgam MLA Kapu Ramachandra Reddy sent his resignation letter to the party president after meeting chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at Tadepalli camp office on Friday.
Kapu Ramachandra Reddy and another half-a-dozen MLAs met the chief minister in his camp office and held discussions on their future. Ramachandra Reddy was the first to come out of the meeting and announce his resignation.
Ramachandra Reddy is the second MLA to quit the YSR Congress on denial of the party ticket to contest in the coming general election. Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy was the first MLA to quit the party and resign his membership in the Assembly.
There are two MLCs who quit the party and joined Jana Sena and TDP respectively. While MLC C Ramachandraiah joined the TDP, another MLC Srinivas Varma joined the Jana Sena last week.
Ramachandra Reddy said that the party leadership had betrayed him despite his loyalty to the party. He said that he never expected the party leadership to treat him this way. “I treated Jagan Mohan Reddy as my own brother and trusted him. But he backstabbed me,” Ramachandra Reddy said.
He said he would contest the coming elections as an Independent from Kalyanadurgam Assembly constituency. Ramachandra Reddy further said that his wife would also contest the coming elections. He said that she would contest from Rayadurgam Assembly constituency.
There is dissidence brewing in the YSR Congress party with the denial of the party ticket. Senior legislator from Vijayawada Central, Malladi Vishnu is also said to be disappointed with the denial of the party ticket. Former minister and Vijayawada West MLA Velampalli Srinivas was made incharge of the Vijayawada Central Assembly constituency.
Sources say that Malladi Vishnu is also looking at joining the YSR Congress after Alla Ramakrishna Reddy. Ramachandra Reddy is also likely to go to the Congress and contest the coming elections. There are at least a dozen sitting MLAs who are likely to go with Sharmila and join the Congress in the days to come.
It is to be seen how many of the sitting MLAs would go to the Congress, TDP and Jana Sena parties in the days to come!
