After much dliiy-dallying and sparking speculations, the Congress initiated process to punish its rebel MLAs in A. P. Government whip Kondru Murali submitted a petition to Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar seeking disqualification of 16 Congress MLAs who defied the party whip and voted against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government during the no-confidence motion tabled by TDP in the state Assembly on Monday last. These MLAs had been sailing with YSR Congress president and Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy for over a year now.

Incidentally, the Congress "condoned" another MLA Putalapattu Ravi who abstained from voting on the no-confidence motion in violation of the whip. Ravi, who hails from the Chief Minister's native Chittoor district, met the PCC leaders and explained the reasons for his abstention at the time of voting in the House. Satisfied with his version, the Congress decided to "condone" Ravi, who once displayed his loyalty to Jagan. The Praja Rajyam Party that merged with the Congress had already petitioned the Speaker seeking disqualification of its MLA Sobha Nagi Reddy who too violated the whip and voted against the government. Sobha is related to Jagan and has been sailing with him along with her husband Bhuma Nagi Reddy.

The MLAs against whom the Congress sought disqualification were: Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Konda Surekha (all former ministers), Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy (brother of Nellore MP Rajamohan Reddy), Dharmana Krishna Das (brother of state R&B Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao), M Sucharita, Amarnatha Reddy, T Balaraju, G Babu Rao, G Srikanth Reddy, Kapu Ramachandra Reddy, Srinivasulu, Prasada Raju, Gurunath Reddy, Chennakesava Reddy and P Ramakrishna Reddy.

The Congress was initially in a dilemma over axing the 16 rebel MLAs fearing by-elections even as Jagan openly threw a challenge at the ruling party to act against his loyalists. However, Chief Minister Reddy was firm on acting against the MLAs and took up the issue with party supremo Sonia Gandhi during a meeting on December 10. She immediately gave her nod for the action but the local leadership took two days to complete necessary formalities.