CM: Local body polls to set mood for 2014

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday rubbished claims that his government has lost its majority in the state Assembly even as it won the No-Trust vote, and said that it would sail through, despite the cross-voting by some Congressmen.

Talking to media here on Saturday, he said the Congress still enjoyed the strength of 147 MLAs in the House of 294. The Congress Legislature Party would meet on March 20 to take stock of the situation, he said.

The CM said there was a plan to develop alternative leaderships in various constituencies. This would include the nine Assembly segments, whose Congress MLAs voted in favour of the No-Trust Motion, as a result of which those members are set to lose membership of the Assembly under the antidefection law,” he said.

Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy expressed surprise at the manner in which, the Pedana MLA Jogi Ramesh in particular, voted in favour of the motion.

“Just a few hours before the voting, he came to me and said he was going to stand firmly behind me, but then he changed his mind,” the CM noted.

He refused to comment on Telugu Desam remaining neutral as the motion came up, thereby helping the Congress government.

Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy said the general mood of the people and their political allegiance will be known when the local body polls are held in phases after a month. The civic polls would be held between the third week of April and the first week of May, depending on the election commission’s decision.