By IANS,
Hyderabad : The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh Thursday decided to move a no confidence motion against the state’s Congress government.
TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu told reporters that the motion is being moved on the issue of problems faced by farmers. He said his party is ready for any situation, including elections to the state assembly.
The former chief minister said the government has lost the confidence of people.
“All sections of people, especially farmers, are facing problems. The government has miserably failed to procure paddy from farmers and ensure minimum support price to them,” he said.
With the government planning to hold a special session of the legislature to elect the assembly speaker and the council chairman Saturday, TDP leaders met assembly secretary Sadaram to give notice for the no-trust motion.
A delegation of TDP legislators met the secretary as Deputy Speaker N. Manohar was not available.
Naidu’s decision comes soon after YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy dared the TDP to table the no-trust motion against the Congress government.
The Kadapa MP even accused the TDP of having a secret understanding with the ruling party.
The Congress has 156 legislators in the 294-member assembly and also enjoys the support of the Praja Rajyam Party, which has 18 members. The TDP has 88 members while Jaganmohan Reddy, who recently floated the YSR Congress, is believed to have support of 15-20 rebel Congress legislators.
Following the decision of TDP, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which has 11 legislators, said it would vote against the government.
Jaganmohan Reddy went into a huddle with his close aides to chalk out his strategy on the no confidence motion. YSR Congress party has been claiming that it has the numbers to pull down the Congress government.
Minister for Transport Botsa Satyanarayana said there was no threat to the government. He welcomed TDP’s decision, saying the debate would help the government expose the opportunistic politics of the opposition.
The state assembly will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday to elect the new speaker while the council will hold a sitting in the evening on the same day to elect a new chairman.
The speaker’s post is vacant since November last year when N. Kiran Kumar Reddy was made the chief minister.
Deputy Speaker Manohar is likely to become the speaker, while A. Chakrapani is likely to be re-elected as council chairman.