Nine Congress and nine TDP MLAs were issued notices by the Speaker, following complaint from the Parties, to explain as to why they voted against the party whip. The rebel Congress MLAs asked the speaker to disqualify them immediately. They requested the Speaker to take a decision by May 14 which would ensure by-elections.

Among those who attended the Speaker’s Chamber include Perni Nani, Maddala Rajesh, G Ravi Kumar, Jogi Ramesh, Alla Nani, Vanitha, Shivaprasad TDP rebel Kodali Nani and others.

Nani and others who defied their party whips had on Thursday met the speaker Nadendla Manohar and gave their explanation to the notices issued by them.

Talking to the media later, Kodali Nani said it was improper to say that those who left TDP should not talk to members of the Nandamuri family. He has questioned how ban could be imposed on having contacts with the Nandamuri family members simply because they had differed with the TDP or Chandra Babu Naidu. Answering questions on the use of the pictures of Sr. NTR by the YSR Congress, he said anyone excepting Chandrababu could use the pictures of the late leader. Reminding that Chandrababu backstabbed NTR, he said this was why he should not use the pictures of his father-in-law. On the pictures of Jr. NTR, he said he had already instructed YSRCP leaders not to use his pictures. Stating that in his constituency NTR’s pictures were not being used along with the photos of the YSR Congress leaders, Nani said he also advised leaders of other areas not to use his pictures.

Stating that Jr. NTR made it clear that he would not leave the TDP, Nani said he would not want to embarrass him. Reminding that NTR had already given a clarification on the use of his pictures by the YSR Congress, he said there was no need for him to once again give explanation either to Chandra Babu Naidu or some one else.

Nani argued that Chandra Babu Naidu had no right to continue as the opposition leader as he had given directions to his party men not to vote against the government during the voting on the no-confidence motion. He sarcastically said that Naidu should give that post to Vijayamma. He said he had asked the Speaker to disqualify him if he felt that he had violated the party whip. He said he was ready to face by-election. He made it clear that he would work against the Congress as long as he was alive. When asked about the reported statement of Jagan that his party would support the UPA, he said he had nothing to do with that decision.

Talking to the media, she alleged that Jupalli incited students and women to hurl eggs and tomatoes at her as he had no guts to come out and face her. She said she would not be afraid of her life, even if bombs were hurled.

She described Jupalli as ‘Zoolo Pilli’ (cat in Zoo) and said the timid TRS leader had no courage to stand before her and argue. Stating that the people of Telangana were observing his culture as he was attacking a woman born here and warned that they would teach him a fitting lesson soon.

It may be recalled that Jupalli was a Congress leader and a cabinet minister. He left the party and joined the TRS. Even when he was a minister, he and Aruna used to frequently fight for supremacy in district politics.

Talking to the media here on Thursday, she said she had complained about the behaviour of the police to the Lok Sabha speaker and asked her to have them suspended. She has charged the SP leader Azam Khan of inciting police against her.

Though getting 12 Lok Sabha seats is a big achievement for a new party, top leaders were disappointed that the new survey could be an indication that the sympathy factor for the YSR family was slowly dying down.

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, party’s honorary president Vijayamma started immediate troubleshooting operation. She started review meetings of different Lok Sabha constituencies. The party has already appointed in-charges for different constituencies. It is presumed that they were tentatively selected as the candidates for the 2014 elections. Now Vijayamma is calling all the in-charges, one after the other and having detailed discussions on the ground-level situation. She is telling the party leaders to go into the field and work on people’s problems.

Vijayamma is unhappy with the way the party handled the power crisis. Despite calls from the central office, party leaders down the line could not take advantage of the situation in building up goodwill with the people and creating awareness among them on the failure of the government. Vijayamma has been expressing her unhappiness with the ground level work of the functionaries. She has also been telling the leaders to prepare the party for the local body elections.

The increasing dissidence in the party is also worrying the leaders. As new leaders including MLAs are joining the party, the hopes of senior leaders of getting party tickets are crashing. MLAs joining the party are doing so, only after getting an assurance from Jagan about their tickets. Now it is being said that senior leaders were insisting that only those who could spend a minimum of Rs. 5 crore for Assembly and Rs. 10 to 15 crore for the Parliament would get tickets. Party senior leaders are telling aspirants that they should not be under the impression that they could win the election by merely chanting the names YSR and Jagan. With this, some of the aspirants were disappointed.

Now Vijayamma is also in consultation with senior leaders on how to once again whip up the sympathy, ahead of the elections. Bharati’s article in Sakshi is seen as one of the plans in that direction. It is being said that Bharati also may tour the state explaining how the family members of YSR were being troubled by the TDP, Congress and CBI combine.