Somewhere in Andhra Pradesh....

In an unprecedented action in state legislature history, Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar on Friday disqualified 16 MLAs of the Congress who had voted against the party government during a no-trust motion in December last year. They had sailed with expelled Congress leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. The development brings down the strength of the Congress from 154 to 137 in a House of 294 but does not threaten the Congress government, which enjoys the support of 17 members of PRP and seven of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimin. There are already seven seats vacant in the assembly. All these MLAs, owing allegiance to YSR Congress president and Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, were disqualified under the antidefection law after they had voted against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government on the no-confidence motion moved by main opposition Telugu Desam Party on December 5 last year.