Time to fall in line or fall out

HYDERABAD: The litmus test is just two days away. All those who had pledged their loyalty to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy would have an opportunity to prove it to their leader and vote in favour of the no-confidence motion in the Assembly, initiated by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.To keep his flock of MLAS together, Jagan Mohan Reddy gave a break to his Odarpu Yatra in Guntur district and came back to Hyderabad on Friday night and took stock of the situation after the TDP served a notice of no confidence over farmers' issues.This morning, he called a meeting of his MLAs to see for himself how loyal they were to him. According to sources, he had a one-to-one meeting with all the 21 MLAs who turned up for the meeting where he told them in unambiguous terms that they would have to vote against the Congress government since he as party president had been saying since the beginning that if anyone initiated the motion, his party would ensure that the government would fall.According to sources, a majority of the MLAs went to the meeting because they could not say no. When Jagan began 'counselling' them, they told him that they did not see any reason why they should defy the party whip and vote against the government. They argued that there was no question of the government falling because the Congress had enough numbers and the end result would be that they would be losing the membership of Assembly. "Why vote and lose our membership when the government would stay without any problem," one of the MLAs is reported to have asked.But Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted them to do his bidding if they wanted to stay with him. He is understood to have told them that there was no point in remaining undecided forever. They should make up their minds as to whether they would stay with him or with the Congress," he is reported to have told them.Jagan Mohan Reddy also appeared to have to told the MLAs not to worry even if they lose their membership of the Assembly because he was there to look after them. He promised to field them in the byelections on YSRC Congress tickets and ensure their elections. But some MLAs were not very sure if they would be elected again. They said they did not understand the logic of losing membership of the Assembly when there was two-and-a-half-year term still left and face a byelection without achieving the desired goal of pulling down the government.At the end of the day, two legislators, Kunja Satyavathi and Katasani Rambhoopal Reddy, who attended the meeting called by Jagan Mohan Reddy, resurfaced by the evening in the Congerss camp. Satyavathi was seen singing praise of Kiran Kumar Reddy.