Several sitting MLAs in the ruling YSR Congress are in jitters as party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy started acting against those who have a very poor track record.
The appointment of former minister and MLC Dokka Manikya Varaprasad as additional incharge of the Tadikonda constituency triggered a big row in the ruling party. Tadikonda MLA Undavalli Sridevi held a protest against this appointment.
Sridevi and her supporters see the intention of the chief minister in appointing Manikya Varaprasad as additional incharge as a move to drop the sitting MLA. Quite interestingly, the chief minister had given a warning to the non-performing MLAs to change their attitude and start being in the midst of the people.
Sources say that the chief minister is regularly getting feedback on the MLAs from three sources. There is an I-PAC team working round the clock for the chief minister giving him feedback on the MLAs and the MPs. The I-PAC team is touring all the 175 Assembly constituencies, collecting information from the people on the popularity of the MLAs.
There is also another team from Delhi, which is conducting surveys and getting feedback from the constituencies on regular intervals. The team also gives a fortnightly report to the chief minister on the performance of the MLAs.
The third team is of his own – trusted loyalists – who keep a regular watch on the movements of the MLAs. The team collects information on the MLAs and tables it before the chief minister.
Sources say that Jagan Mohan Reddy would compile the three reports and is taking decisions accordingly. The decision to drop Tadikonda MLA Undavalli Sridevi is only a tip of an iceberg and there are at least 25 sitting MLAs who may not get the party ticket to contest the 2024 elections.
Among the sitting MPs, at least five of them would be denied the party ticket in the next elections. Jagan Mohan Reddy had already started looking for alternatives in these 25 Assembly and 5 Parliament constituencies, which had become a cause of worry for the sitting MLAs and MPs in the ruling party.
