Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is said to be in a state of dilemma as to how to deal with the four YSR Congress party MLAs who have been suspended from their party for voting in favour of TDP candidate Panchumarthi Anuradha in the just concluded MLC elections.
The issue of the four suspended MLAs – Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy and Undavalli Sridevi – is learnt to have come up for discussion at the TDP politburo meeting held in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Naidu sought the opinion of the politburo members as to what the TDP should do with the four rebel YSRC MLAs – whether they should be admitted into the party and if yes, what the repercussions would be. These MLAs have already contacted the TDP leadership, sources said.
At the same time, the party cannot ignore them as they had voted for the TDP candidate, apparently after being contacted by the party leadership. They might have to be accommodated in the party.
However, the politburo members are learnt to have suggested that Naidu speak to the local TDP leaders and also other ticket aspirants before admitting the rebel MLAs into the party, as their entry should not cause a heartburn among the existing party leaders.
Some others also suggested that it would be better, if Naidu did not give any commitment to the rebel MLAs about the party tickets immediately, since there is also an issue of a possible alliance with the Jana Sena Party.
The TDP chief is expected to take a call on the rebel YSRCP MLAs only after going through all these pros and cons, sources said.