Hyderabad:
The Andhra Pradesh government has comfortably defeated a no-confidence motion against it, which was moved by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu over the issue of farmer suicides in the state.
A total of 122 MLAs voted for the motion while 160 MLAs voted against it; one stayed neutral.
Of the 153 Congress members, in the 295-member house, 16 YS Jaganmohan Reddy loyalists defied party whip and voted for the motion; so did a Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) legislator. These Congress MLAs now face disqualification.
Chiranjeevi, who has already merged PRP with Congress, had issued a whip to his legislators to vote against the motion after Congress leaders assured to protect PRP legislators' interests and accommodate them in the state cabinet and other "suitable posts".
Monday was the last day of the five-day winter session of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Setting the tone for the debate on the no-confidence motion moved by main opposition TDP, Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu said the farmers in the state were in distress but the government had failed to come to their rescue.
"Our only aim is to ensure that justice is done to farmers and the farmers' agenda should become the national agenda," the former chief minister had said.
The debate on the no-confidence motion lasted a marathon 16 hours after which voting was taken up at 12.55 am, and the head-count of MLAs were then taken.
Though 21 Congress legislators loyal to Jagan, last Friday, attended a meeting and decided to vote against the government, this number came down to 16 by Saturday with Congress succeeding in winning back some legislators. The Congress leadership used the services of KVP Ramachandra Rao, a close friend of Jagan's late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy, to persuade rebels not to create problems for the government.
A couple of months ago, Jagan had the support of 26 Congress rebels but five of them had returned to the party fold.
(
With agency inputs)