More MLAs May Align With Jagan
posted on May 14, 2011 @ 4:21PM
Two factors will lead more MLAs in the state assembly to align with Jagan Mohan Reddy. One is Jagan and his mother winning the Kadapa bypolls with a massive victory margin and the other one is Supreme Court's decision to suspend Karnataka Speaker's decision to disqualify 11 BJP legislators and 5 independents for anti-party activities.
The immediate worry in the ruling camp is that more Congress MLAs will gravitate towards Jagan. So far, only 10-12 Congress MLAs have displayed their solidarity with Jagan in the state assembly and in the public meetings, but that number is likely to increase in the coming week, feared the Congress sources. Following the Supreme Court stay, Dy. Speaker in the Assembly, Nadendla Manohar has decided to put on hold the disqualification process he has initiated against some Congress, TDP and PRP MLAs in the state. Complaints were lodged with him against 4 Congress MLAs and two each of the TDP and PRP legislators for anti-party activities.
As a result, the Kiran camp is wary that the four Congress MLAs who had aligned themselves with Jagan can get emboldened and once again move around openly with him. Some Congress sources also did not rule out the possibility of some more party MLAs publicly supporting Jagan after his tremendous showing in the bypolls. "In this way, there will be no need of Jagan pulling down the government, it would fall on its own. Unless the high command comes out with an effective strategy to handle Jagan and bring in an effective leader as the chief minister, Jagan is likely to grow in strength at the expense of the Congress," a Congress leader said.