YSR Congress to vote against Kiran government

HYDERABAD: With the TDP poised to introduce a no-trust motion in the Assembly session beginning Thursday, the YSR Congress party affirmed it would vote to throw down the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.However, the Congress government expressed confidence that it will sail through unscathed. All the same, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy asked his Cabinet colleagues to ensure that all party MLAs attend the session without fail.At the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the CM put the onus of ensuring MLA attendance on ministers from the respective districts. Further, the Cabinet discussed the strategies to be adopted: Any criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the chief minister will be vehemently defended by ministers. And any attempt by TDP boss Chandrababu Naidu to pose as a champion of farmers will be refuted with facts from the latter’s nine-year rule.For its part, the TDP announced a series of symbolic activities leading up to the skirmish in the House. Naidu will lead a procession of his MLAs from NTR Ghat to Assembly at 8 a.m.The party’s Telangana MLAs will stop over at the Martyrs’ Memorial to pay their lip service and then join their Seemandhra colleagues in the House.In public comments on Wednesday, Congress party bosses said defeating the motion would be a cinch because the numbers are stacked in its favour after the return of a handful of Jagan loyalists to the Congress.On Wednesday, another J camper, Kakinada MLA D Chandrasekhar Reddy decided to desert J and return to Congress.In Guntur, Jagan declared that MLAs loyal to him will vote for no-trust move. He said it would be proof that his camp is more sincere in dislodging Kiran.The official party postion in the house of 294 is as follows: Cong 152 (+ PRP 18), TDP 86, TRS 12, MIM 7, CPM 4, BJP 2, CPI 1, LSP 1, YSRC 1, IND 3, Vacant 7.