Speaker accepts resignations of four rebel MLAs

Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Monday accepted the resignations of four more MLAs - all rebels of Congress and Telugu Desam Party.

The resignation of former minister Jupally Krishan Rao representing Kollahpur assembly segment has been accepted. The other three MLAs whose resignation has been accepted are T Rajaiah (Station Ghanpur), Gampa Goverdhan (Kamareddy) and Jogu Ramanna (Adilabad).

While Gampa Govardhan and Jogu Ramanna were elected on TDP tickets, Jupally Krishna Rao and T Rajaiah won the 2009 assembly elections on Congress tickets. Recently they resigned from the parties to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

With the acceptance of these four resignations, the total number of vacant assembly seats in the State Assembly has touched seven. Resignations of MLAs Nagam Janardhan Reddy (Nagarkurnool) and Prasanna Kumar Reddy (Kovvur) were accepted by the Speaker last week. While Nagam was suspended from the Telugu Desam Party after he joined the Telangana bandwagon, Prasanna Kumar first joined the Congress and then shifted his loyalties to the YSR Congress party.

Meanwhile, the Speaker has rejected the resignations of 61 MLAs of TDP and TRS who put in their papers demanding separate statehood for the Telangana region. However, the Speaker is yet to take a decision on the disqualification petitions of MLAs who joined the YSR Congress party from the Congress, TDP and the Praja Rajyam Party.