Baffled YCP seeks Venkaiah help to prevent defections

Baffled by the spate of defections from the YCP, the party leaders are doing odd things to prevent their MLAs from leaving. Bhumana Karunkar Reddy appealed to Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday to ensure that the YCP MLAs, who had defected, were disqualified. He said it was because of the loopholes in the existing Anti-Defection Law that the ruling TDP was spreading its net to trap YCP MLAs. Bhumana also said Andhra Pradesh Speaker Kodela Sivaprasad Rao was not responding to their pleas on the defections. Therefore, the Centre should intervene and bring about amendments in the Anti-Defection Act so that the Speaker would have no say about ruling on defections one way or the other. The Centre (parliament) should take over the powers to rule in case of defections, he added. While the YCP may appeal to the BJP-led government, that party is in alliance with the ruling TDP. So Bhumana may have to reconsider his appeal and direct it to the right authorities. Besides, the BJP is not able to get even the Goods and Services Bill passed in Parliament.