JOIN USThe defeat of the no-confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has given only temporary relief to the chief minister and the Congress party. It was not expected that the government would be voted out on the floor of the House. The motion, moved by Telugu Desam party leader Chandrababu Naidu, was meant only to expose the fault lines in the government’s support and the precarious nature of its existence. Even though the Congress weaned away a number of members loyal to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is the main thorn in Kiran Kumar Reddy’s flesh, it is not yet out of the political woods. The vote showed that 16 loyalists stuck with the son of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, in spite of the serious cases relating to acquisition of disproportionate assets being pursued against him.
With the YSR Congress party’s 16 legislators officially out of the Congress fold, the government will have to depend for its survival on the 17 members of the Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi and seven members of the Majlis-e-Muttehadul Muslimeen (MIM). Though the Praja Rajyam Party is supposed to have merged with the Congress, it is still an uneasy union. Chiranjeevi himself has criticised the Congress for not giving his supporters their due and many of the Praja Rajyam members are unhappy and discontented. Some of them feel that the merger was a mistake. The government’s dependence on them would make the Praja Rajyam members bolder and the Congress might find it difficult to satisfy them.
A bigger challenge for the Congress is how to deal with the 16 Jagan Mohan Reddy loyalists who voted against the government. They have to be disqualified under the anti-defection law but that will entail by-elections in all their constituencies. There are other vacancies also in the Assembly for which by-elections have to be held. In the present political climate in the state the Congress can only expect setbacks in any popular vote in the state. Kiran Kumar is no mass leader and the Congress is badly damaged by its handling of the Telangana issue. It is likely that the party will go slow on disqualifications so that it can avoid the by-elections in the near future. It will send out the clear message that the government lacks the moral and political courage to face the people.