KVR, Vijay Sai Reddy Bills widen Desam, BJP divide

Hyderabad: The private members’ bills of Congress MP K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, seeking special status for Andhra Pradesh, and YSRC MP Vijay Sai Reddy, wanting amendments to the anti-defection law, may create further strain in the relations between the BJP and the TD.  

Expecting that Dr Rao’s Bill would come up in the Rajya Sabha for voting on Friday, the Congress high command has issued a whip to all its members in the upper house asking them to be present in the House without fail and vote in favour of the private Bill when it comes up for voting.

The TD has announced its support for Dr Rao’s private Bill. The BJP is planning to support Mr Vijay Sai Reddy’s private member’s Bill. Congress leaders said they had put the BJP and the TD on the defensive with the private Bill on special status.  BJP will suffer a loss of face if the TD supports the private Bill on special status.

The TD will be on the back foot if the BJP supports the YSRC MP’s private member’s Bill in the backdrop of a large number of Opposition MLAs having joined the TD in the state.

BJP and TD leaders at the state level have been openly criticising each other on some issues and this may now graduate to the central level with the latest political developments.  

A BJP leader from AP asked what was wrong if the party supported the private Bill on the Anti Defection Act and added that Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu had already said that the present Anti Defection Act needed some amendments.