The ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh is caught in a state of confusion on how to deal with the resignations of its 24 members of Legislative Assembly, who are loyal to YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
For the record, the party has been saying that by-elections are inevitable in those 24 constituencies and two others from where Telugu Desam Party rebel MLAs have also resigned in support of Jagan.
Behind the scenes, efforts are underway to pull back at least half of the 24 legislators to the party and make a dent in Jagan's plans.
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botsa Satyanarayana claimed that there is no question of the Congress trying to placate the rebel MLAs and bringing them back into the party.
Government's whip Kondru Murali, who met assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Friday, said he requested him to accept the resignations of all MLAs.
"We are ready to face by-elections and the YSR Congress party will stand no chance to win," both Botsa and Murali claimed.
The Congress is clearly wary about the issue.
If it gets the resignations of Jagan loyalists accepted, the Speaker will be forced to do the same in the case of MLAs who put in their papers in support of Telangana.
"That will open up a Pandora's Box and compound the political crisis in the state. As more than half of the government's term is left, any political trouble is not good," a top Congress leader pointed out.
The Congress is jittery over the prospect of facing by-polls in Telangana where it is in a miserable position.
To avoid embarrassment, the Congress is seeking to push the Speaker for disposal of disqualification proceedings against four of its MLAs as their petitions have been pending for a long time now.
The Congress' ploy is to get the four MLAs disqualified and thereby send a strong message to Jagan's loyalists that their political career will be safe only if they stay with the ruling party.
The government whip spoke on these lines and also suggested that the Congress would "pardon" Jagan's loyalists if they "surrendered" to the chief minister and the PCC president.
Now, everyone is looking towards the Speaker for his call on the entire drama.
