Jolt to ruling Cong in Pondy; senior leader Malladi Krishna Rao quits MLA post

In a jolt to the four andhalf year-old V Narayanasamy-led Congress government here,senior party legislator Malladi Krishna Rao on Monday resignedfrom the post of MLA.

A communication purportedly sent by Rao to the mediasaid that he conveyed his resignation in his letter head toSpeaker V P Sivakolundhu from his home town of Yanam.

He stated that he tendered ''his resignation of myseat in the House with effect from February 15.'' However, when contacted a spokesman of the Assemblysaid the office of Speaker had not received any letter fromRao today.

Rao had quit the post of Health Minister some weeksago. But the Chief Minister denied such reports at pressconferences that Rao had quit the post of Minister.

Rao was not available for confirmation over phonewhen PTI attempted to contact him.

An official source in the Assembly said thatthe Speaker was ''out of station.'' Malladi Krishna Rao is the third Congress legislatorto quit the post of MLA after the former PWD Minister ANamassivayam and E.Theeppainjan on January 25.

N Dhanavelu a Congress member was disqualified inJuly last year for alleged anti-party activities.

If the Speaker accepts his resignation, the strengthof the Congress in the 30-member House will come down to 11.

The Congress had won 15 assembly seats in the 2016Assembly polls including the Speaker.

The Congress hinges on the support of the threemember DMK and an Independent from Mahe N.Ramachandran.

On the opposition side, the AINRC has seven memberswhile AIADMK has four and there are three nominated membersbelonging to the Bharatiya Janata party.

Rao's resignation has come as a bolt from the blue tothe Congress when the party is going ahead with arrangementsfor the visit of party leader Rahul Gandhi on February 17.

Rao has been holding the lone Yanam constituencywithout break since 1996 although at one stage in 2000 he quitthe MLA post to facilitate the then Congress leader the late PShanmugham who became Chief Minister without being an MLA tocontest to regularise himself as head of the then government.

Shanmugham won the poll in the byelection held in 2000within six months of becoming the head of the governmentwithout being a member of the House.

Rao was felicitated by the government at a function onJanuary 16 in Yanam for being ''a legislator for a long period''and among those who felicitated him included the ChiefMinister and his cabinet colleagues.

Rao also accompanied the Chief Minister last week toNew Delhi to meet President Ram Nath Kovind to urge him toreplace Lt governor Kiran Bedi for her alleged interference inadministration in the union territory.