Hyderabad: The election of the Assembly Speaker on Saturday is likely to be a smooth affair, notwithstanding the buzz surrounding the TDP's no-trust notice against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.
The YSR Congress, which claims to have the support of a good number of Congress MLAs, dropped enough hints on Friday that it would not work against the ruling party's nominee Nadendla Manohar for the coveted post because "the Speaker should not be seen as belonging to any party."
Party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's loyalist MLA K Ramachandra Reddy, after a meeting with him, said, "We will not interfere in the election of the Speaker."
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has already announced that it will keep off the election. Though the main Opposition, the Telugu Desam Party, has put up a candidate - KE Krishna Murthy - Pro-tem Speaker JC Diwakar Reddy is expected to go in for a normal division of votes (head count). The Jagan Mohan Reddy camp is keeping silent as the gap between the Congress and the TDP is too big to warrant formal voting (secret ballot).
The TDP is also fielding former minister Suddhala Devaiah for the deputy speaker's post while the Congress nominee for the same is Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
Jagan met with his MLAs, numbering about 20, after which one of them declared that they will not come in the way of Manohar's election.
But they are formulating a strategy just in case a vote of no-confidence is taken up.
They claim that they have enough number of MLAs to pull down the government.
"More of our MLAs are arriving tomorrow. We will have a discussion with them too, not on the Speaker's election but on the no-trust move," another Jagan loyalist MLA Golla Babu Rao said.
However, sources in the Assembly pointed out that since the session is meant for the election of the Speaker, the no-confidence motion is unlikely to be taken up at this point of time.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, nonetheless, remained unfazed. "We will move a no-confidence motion. If the notice that has already been given to the Speaker is not valid due to technical reasons, we will serve another tomorrow. The Act says that the Speaker will have to allow the motion within 10 days," he argued.
One more reason for the Jagan camp deciding against 'upsetting' the Congress plans is the possibility of the TDP withdrawing its nominee in case secret ballot is preferred.
The TDLP will take a final call in this regard on Saturday before the session begins.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, on the other hand, told his Cabinet colleagues to ensure that all MLAs vote for the Congress nominee in case election becomes inevitable.
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