AP legislative council deputy chairperson Jakia Khanum quits YSRCP, set to join BJP

VIJAYAWADA: AP Legislative council deputy chairperson Jakia Khanum has resigned from the upper house and also to her primary membership in YSRCP. Khanum has decided to join the BJP. She has another year term in the council. Khanum is the sixth MLC to quit YSRCP in the last one year. Jakia Khanum belongs to Rayachoti assembly constituency in Annamayya district. Recognising her family’s loyalty to the party, YSRCP supremo and then chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy brought her to the legislative council through governor quota. She was nominated to the council by the governor in 2020. Subsequently, she was elevated as deputy chairperson of the council with a view to give fair representation to the minority woman. However, Jakia distanced herself from the party soon after YSRCP lost the elections in 2024. She met the chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, IT minister Nara Lokesh several times and almost decided to move into the TDP. However, the Rayachoti TDP leaders believed to have opposed her admission into the party. After waiting for about a year, Jakia has decided to join the BJP. She met the BJP state president and MP Daggubati Purandeswari in the state party office on Wednesday. Sources said that she sent her resignation to her membership in legislative council the chairman K Moshen Raju. Jakia is the sixth YSRCP MLC to quit the upper house after the TDP-led NDA came into power. Curiously, council chairman Moshen Raju had not accepted any of the resignations causing serious embarrassment to the members who quit their posts. They submitted resignations to help the TDP win the seats to consolidate its strength as YSRCP still enjoys a majority in the legislative council. YSRCP MLCs Karri Padmasri, Pothula Suneetha, Balli Kalyan Chakravarthy, Jayamangalam Venkata Ramana and Marri Rajasekhar submitted their resignation letters to the council in the last 10 months.