Vijayawada: More trouble is in the offing for TD: It may lose its Opposition party status in the AP Assembly. In a bid to strengthen its base in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP, which has opened its doors to TD leaders, is expected to poach two-thirds of the TD’s 23 MLAs.
When two-thirds of the MLAs of the TD Parliamentary Party ask the Speaker to merge with another party or consider them as a separate group, they will escape disqualification under the anti-defection law.
As per Assembly norms, a party should have 10 per cent of the House strength to enjoy Opposition status. In the 175-member AP Assembly, a party should have at least 18 MLAs to be an Opposition party. If six MLAs leave the TD, it will lose its Opposition status. The BJP is trying to poach at least 16, or two-thirds of the 23 TD MLAs.
According to highly placed sources in the BJP, the possible defectors will take a cue from the party’s four Rajya Sabha members who defected to the BJP. In order to escape disqualification, four of the six TD MPs, or two-thirds of the party in the Upper House, asked the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha to merge them into the BJP under the 4th paragraph of the Tenth Schedule.
This provision dealing with the anti-defection law says: “A member of a House shall not be disqualified where his original political party merges with another political party and he claims that he and any other members of his original political party— (a) have become members of such other political party or, as the case may be, of a new political party formed by such merger; or (b) have not accepted the merger and opted to function as a separate group, and from the time of such merger, such other political party or new political party or group, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be the political party to which he belongs.”
“At this point I can’t say how many TD MLAs are joining us. But I am sure a majority of the TD MLAs are in touch with our leadership both at the Centre and state and are showing interest in joining the BJP,” said BJP state vice president. S. Vishnuvardhan Reddy.
