Hyderabad: Machilipatnam’s Congress MLA Perni Venkata Ramaiah alias Nani resigned from the post of the government’s whip after he met YSR Congress president and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the Chanchalguda jail here this afternoon. However, he did not resign either from the Congress or the assembly.
Only last week, Kakinada MLA Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar Reddy had walked out of the Congress to join the YSR Congress, reducing the ruling Congress party’s strength in the Andhra Pradesh assembly to 149, which is just one more than the half-way mark of 148.
After Nani’s move, the Congress finds itself in a precarious position in the assembly. Nani’s overtures towards the YSR Congress may shock the chief minister who had “pampered” him for about two years and even made him the government whip in the assembly, with a minister of state status. In 2010, Nani had expressed his loyalty to Jagan after the latter quit the Congress.
“I am only acting as per the wishes of people from my constituency. I will remain in the Congress for now, but will not contest the 2014 elections as the party’s candidate,” he had said then, clearly indicating that he would eventually switch over to the YSR Congress.
However, he was later made the government whip in the assembly and the chief minister also promised to develop the Machilipatnam port, which has been a long-pending demand of people from the coastal region.
“Today, I just met Jagan in the jail. I will take a decision on when to formally join the YSR Congress after the impending elections to co-operative societies,” Nani told PTI.
The saga of desertions does not seem to be over yet for the beleaguered Congress, as some more MLAs from coastal Andhra Pradesh region are said to be waiting for an opportune moment to cross over to the YSR Congress.
There are also indications that at least five Congress MPs and some Congress MLAs from the Telangana region are ready to abandon the Congress, after its fresh somersault on the Telangana statehood issue.