YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's attempts to expose his arch rival Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for engineering defections of MLAs from his party into the TDP have failed with the Supreme Court refusing to interfere in the matter.
Acting on a petition filed by YSRC MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, the apex court said the decision on disqualification of MLAs is left to the Assembly Speaker and judiciary had no say in the matter. However, it said the party could approach the High Court first, if it wanted.
However, Jagan might not come back to the High Court, as it might not show interest in taking up the case which was rejected by the Supreme Court. So, the defectors can go scot free without any punishment, much to Jagan’s disgruntlement.
The only option left before Jagan is to take the battle to the people and attack Naidu. Otherwise, he should build pressure on the Centre to amend the Constitution, as suggested by Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, seeking for stringent punishment for defectors.
