Nadendla Manohar was Saturday (today) elected the new speaker of the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly while Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was elected his deputy. Manohar, who has been deputy speaker since 2009, polled 158 votes while K.E. Krishnamurthy of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) secured 90 votes in the 294-member house.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (CPI), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Lok Satta and YSR Congress party abstained from voting to maintain equal distance from both the Congress and the TDP. All 89 members of the TDP and the lone CPI-M legislator voted for Krishnamurthy. The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) supported the Congress candidate. As many as 23 legislators of the Congress, PRP and MIM were absent from the house for various reasons.

The YSR Congress, which has only one legislator, abstained but Congress legislators considered rebels and loyal to YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy voted for Manohar, son of former chief minister Nadendla Bhaskar Rao. The post of the speaker was vacant since November last year when N. Kiran Kumar Reddy became the chief minister.
Vikramarka, who was government chief whip, was elected the new deputy speaker. He polled 164 votes against 88 secured by his rival Suddala Devaiah of the TDP.

Earlier, protem speaker J.C. Diwakar Reddy declared Manohar elected as the 17th speaker by a voice vote, but following objections from the TDP agreed for a division. The party also took exception to the decision to the conduct of voting by show of hands. It alleged that the legislature secretary had gone back on the decision to hold the election through secret ballot.
The one-day session of the state legislature was specially convened to elect the speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly and the chairman and vice-chairman of the legislative council.

The council, the upper house of the state legislature, will meet in the evening but the election of the Congress nominees has become a mere formality with the opposition deciding not to contest. A. Chakrapani is all set to be unanimously elected the chairman for the second consecutive term while N. Vidyasagar will be the new chairman.

The election of the speaker and deputy speaker was significant in view of the no-trust motion moved by the TDP against the government. With as many as 22 rebel legislators of the ruling party Friday attending the meeting with Jaganmohan Reddy, it was cautious on the election to the key posts. However, Jaganmohan Reddy continued the suspense over no-confidence motion by making legislators loyal to him vote for the Congress nominee. The Congress, which has 155 members in the assembly, is confident of defeating the no-trust motion as it enjoys support of the PRP and MIM, which have 18 and seven legislators respectively.

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