The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Two Ministers, 18 Congress MLAs absent

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Two Ministers, 18 Congress MLAs absent

Special Correspondent

Congress was expecting 170 votes for N. Manohar
Three MIM MLAs among the absentees

HYDERABAD: Two Ministers – N. Raghuveera Reddy and D.L. Ravindra Reddy - were among the over dozen Congress legislators who were absent during the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

The figure of 158 votes polled by Speaker candidate Nadendla Manohar caused the surprise to the Treasury benches, which were expecting at least 170 votes to be polled in his favour.

The Congress (155) and its allies have a strength of 183, including 18 of Praja Rajyam, seven of MIM besides three Independents.

A majority of the MLAs absent on Saturday were reportedly abroad and informed the party leadership that they would be unable to make it for the voting. Some MLAs, who were absent during the election of the Speaker, rushed to the House to participate in the voting for the Deputy Speaker.

They included Handlooms and Textiles Minister P. Shankar Rao, who returned to the city from an official tour of Canada. Similarly, Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah also made it to the Assembly after a visit to Israel.

Former Deputy Speaker and Congress MLA G. Kuthuhulamma could not come as she is undergoing treatment in Apollo Hospital, Chennai, while another member A. K. Srinivas (Eluru) was not seen in the Assembly due to bereavement in his family.

M. Vijayaprasad (Visakhapatnam), R.V.S.K. Ranga Rao (Bobbili), K. Venkatarami Reddy (Dharmavaram), and T. Narsa Reddy (Gajwel) were abroad.

At least three MLAs from MIM – Akbaruddin (Chandrayangutta), Ahmed Bin Balala (Malakpet) and Moazzam Khan (Asifnagar) were among the MLAs absent.

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Andhra Pradesh