Andhra Legislative Council deputy chairperson quits YSRCP, joins BJP

Amaravati, May 14 (IANS) Hours after her resignation as deputy chairperson of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council and from the YSR Congress Party, Mayana Zakia Khanam joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

State BJP President and Member of Parliament P. D. Purandeswari welcomed her into the party in the presence of state Health Minister Sathya Kumar Yadav and party legislators.

Purandeswari offered the BJP’s scarf to Zakia Khanam, who earlier sent her resignation as MLC to Council chairperson Koyye Moshen Raju.

Welcoming Khanam into the party, Purandeswary said that this reflects a major shift and strengthens the BJP’s commitment to inclusive leadership.

Stating that the BJP believes in the slogan of ‘Sabha ka saath, sabka vikas’, she claimed that minorities’ trust in the BJP is growing.

The MP said that the BJP delivers welfare beyond caste and religion, especially focusing on the underprivileged and marginalised sections.

Nominated to the Council under the governor’s quota in July 2020, Zakia Khanam was the first Muslim woman to become the MLC.

In November 2021, she was elected unopposed to the post of deputy chairperson. She was the first woman to hold the post.

Khanam, a homemaker, comes from Rayachoti in Annamayya district.

She is the sixth MLC to quit YSRCP since the party lost power to the TDP-led NDA in June last year.

Earlier, Balli Kalyan Chakravarthy, Karri Padmasri, Pothula Suneetha, Marri Rajasekhar and Jayamangala Venkataramana resigned from the Council. They all cited dissatisfaction with the party’s functioning as the reason for their resignation.

Council chairman Moshen Raju has yet to accept any of the resignations. They repeatedly urged the chairman to accept their resignations and even staged protests over the delay in accepting their resignations.

With Zakia Khanam’s exit, YSRCP’s strength in the 57-member Council has decreased further, even though it still enjoys a majority. The resigning leaders claim they are leaving due to disagreements with Jagan Mohan Reddy’s leadership and policies.

YSRCP has 31 members in the Council even after the resignation of six MLCs. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has 10 members, while its coalition partners BJP and Jana Sena, have one member each. Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) has four MLCs.

A spate of resignations has hit Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP since its crushing defeat in the Assembly elections.

The party, which had won 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly in 2019, was reduced to just 11 seats in the elections held in May last year.

Several leaders have quit the YSRCP. These include four Rajya Sabha members.

In January, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s close aide and Rajya Sabha member Vijaya Sai Reddy resigned from both the Upper House of the Parliament and the party.

--IANS

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