Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao to use MLCs’ quit letters as trump cards

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has withheld consent for the resignations sent by minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav and 16 MLCs to the Legislature.

TRS sources said the Chief Minister will wait for an opportune time to give his nod, after which the respective Presiding Officers accept the resignations.

Mr Yadav had submitted his resignation as the Sanathnagar TD legislator the day he took oath as minister.

Assembly rules say that the Speaker should accept a member’s resignation immediately if he has no other information that the resignation is not voluntary and genuine.

Apart from Mr Yadav’s resignation, the Speaker also has a petition filed by the TD legislature party seeking his disqualification for defecting to the TRS without quitting the Assembly seat. Once the Speaker accepts the resignation, the TD petition will become infructuous.

After the Speaker accepts Mr Yadav’s resignation, the Sanathnagar seat will be notified as vacant, which in turn warrants the Election Commission to hold a bypoll “within six months”.

In accordance with the rules, the EC will club any vacancies in Parliament and the state Assemblies along with the Delhi Assembly polls which are expected to be held in February.

The Chief Minister, however, wants to buy time for a “politically favourable situation” to win the resultant Sanathnagar bypoll.

Sources said Mr Rao wants the bypoll to be held along with the GHMC polls; to be held many months later.

Meanwhile, according to reliable sources, all the 16 TD and Congress MLCs who had defected to TRS have submitted resignation letters to Mr Rao.

A majority of these MLCs will be retiring in March 2015. The Election Commission has started the process of filling the 21 vacant MLC seats, which includes those occupied by these 16 MLCs.

Sources said Mr Rao will give his consent for the resignations in a phased manner a few days before the MLC polls, and the letters will be released to the Presiding Officer.

With this gambit, Mr Rao will ensure that the MLCs can complete their term and then be reelected from the TRS.