M A I N   N E W S

AP Govt survives trust vote, but Jagan wins
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, December 6
It turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory for the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh. The one-year-old Kiran Kumar Reddy government defeated an Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion, but not before suffering significant damage inflicted by the rebel group owing allegiance to YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

As many as 16 Congress MLAs defied the party whip and voted against the government in a show of loyalty to Jagan. Two others -- a Telugu Desam Party rebel and an erstwhile Praja Rajya Party (PRP) member -- also backed the Kadapa MP.

When voting was taken up in the wee hours of today after a marathon 16-hour debate in the Assembly on the no-trust motion moved by the main Opposition, TDP, it emerged that the government managed to survive because of the support from the 17-member PRP and seven-member Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

While 122 MLAs voted in favour of the no-confidence motion, 160 voted against it and one legislator was neutral. On paper, the Congress has 153 members in the 294-member Assembly. With seven vacancies, the effective strength came down to 187. The ruling party needed the support of 144 members to defeat the no-confidence motion.

Despite the win, the Congress leaders were left red-faced. Braving the threat of disqualification, 16 pro-Jagan legislators broke the ranks and voted against the government. Emboldened by the development, Jagan dared the ruling party to disqualify his loyalists.