Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSR Congress party on Friday sought disqualification of party MP Kanumuru Raghurama Krishnam Raju from the Lok Sabha membership in the wake of his anti-party activities in the recent past.
A memorandum to this effect was submitted by a delegation of YSRC MPs to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in New Delhi this afternoon. The memorandum was signed by YSRC MP from Rajahmundry Margani Bharat on behalf of president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Apart from Bharat, the delegation included parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy, Rajampet MP P Mithun Reddy, Narsaraopet MP Lavu Krishna Devarayalu and Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh.
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The MPs conveyed to the Speaker that Raghurama Krishnam Raju, representing Narasapuram parliamentary constituency in West Godavari district, had violated the party discipline by openly commenting against the party president, opposing the policy decisions of the government, making wild allegations against party MPs and even questioning the status of the party.
“We requested the Speaker to disqualify Raghurama Krishnam Raju who had indulged in gross violation of party discipline under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India,” YSRC parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy told reporters later.
Sai Reddy alleged Raghurama Krishnan Raju had abused the party leaders in foul language. He joined hands with opposition party leaders and questioned the policies of the government. If he had any issues, he could have taken them up with the party president. Instead, he chose to speak to the media. It is pretty evident that he has been talking against the party for his political gains,” Sai Reddy said.
Another party MP, P Mithun Reddy said, Raju had not given a proper reply to the show-cause notice served on him. “Jagan has given him a lot of importance in the party. Though there were senior MPs in the party, he made Raju a member in the parliamentary standing committee. He has misused the freedom and value given by the party,” Reddy said.
A YSRC leader familiar with the development said the party was adopting the strategy adopted by Janata Dal (U) president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in getting senior politician and 10-time MP Sharad Yadav disqualified from his Rajya Sabha membership in December 2017.
After the Election Commission recognized Nitish Kumar’s group as the real Janata Dal, Sharad Yadav was declared a rebel. The Nitish Kumar group submitted all the evidence to Rajya Sabha chairman and vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu to show that Sharad Yadav had resorted to anti-party activities. Venkaiah went by the rule book and disqualified Sharad Yadav from RS membership.
Meanwhile, the Narsapuram MP moved the state high court seeking to stall the attempts of the YSRC to disqualify him from the Lok Sabha membership and suspend him from the party.
“I have not resorted to any anti-party activities. I was served show-cause notice on YSR Congress party letterhead, while my party’s name as per the EC records is Yuvaja Shramik Rythu Congress party. I brought it to the notice of the Election Commission. Till there is a clarification from the EC, I request the court to stall my suspension from the party as well as any action on my disqualification,” Raju appealed in his petition to the high court.
The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Monday.