Telugu Desam Party’s Lok Sabha member from Vijayawada Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani created ripples in the party by defying the party line on Citizen’s Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, which passed the bill on Monday night amidst intense discussions.
While the TDP decided to support the bill for its own reasons, Nani abstained from voting when Lok Sabha speaker called for a division in the House.
However, two other MPs – Galla Jayadev and K Rammohan Naidu voted in favour of the bill. So did all the 12 YSR Congress party MPs.
Kesineni told the reporters later that the CAB is against the fundamentals of the Constitution.
“It discriminates a section of people getting Constitutional rights. I cannot support such a bill, irrespective of the party’s stand,” he said, adding that he cannot act against his conscience.
Though the TDP has not issued any whip for the voting, it was a clear case of defiance of party stand by Kesineni. The only solace for the party is that he did not vote against the Bill.
Though Nani had taken a different stand against the party on other occasions in the past, too, TDP president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is not a position to take any action against him, since there are only three MPs for the party in Lok Sabha. He has remained helpless!