At last, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the resignations of five YSR Congress party MPs, who had put in their papers on April 6 in protest against denial of special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumithra Mahajan who held two rounds of talks with the MPs first on May 29 and next on June 6, kept their resignations in abeyance and left for her foreign tour without taking any decision on accepting their resignations. She returned on June 19 and now took the decision.
The five MPs – Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy (Nellore), Y V Subba Reddy (Ongole), P Mithun Reddy (Rajampet), V Varaprasada Rao (Tirupati) and Y V Avinash Reddy (Kadapa) –now cease to be the members of the Lok Sabha.
Technically, however, the YSRC will continue to have representation in Lok Sabha, as three of its MPs who defected to the TDP, did not resign from their seats.
“We are happy that our resignations have been accepted. We are now free birds. We have fulfilled our commitment towards achieving special category status.
The sooner the Election Commission conducts the by-elections to our seats, the better,” outgoing Tirupati MP V Varaprasad Reddy said.
