Amaravati, Nov 19 (PTI): After a long gap, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy held a meeting at his residence on Thursday with his Cabinet colleagues and senior party leaders to discuss various political affairs.

An official release from the Chief Minister's Office said Jagan Mohan Reddy discussed the impending by-election to the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat.

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"The Chief Minister and the party president elicited the views of all the leaders.

They left the decision of selecting the candidate for the Tirupati by-election to Jagan," the release added.

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By-election is due for the Tirupati (SC) Lok Sabha constituency in the next four months since the sitting MP B Prasada Rao died of COVID-19 on September 16.

Though officially the meeting was to discuss the by- election, the actual purpose was to discuss the State Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar's decision to conduct elections to Gram Panchayats in February 2021, sources said.

The SEC had complained to the state Governor on Wednesday against the "unconstitutional acts" of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government after it differed on the move to hold the Gram panchayat polls in February.

Ramesh Kumar informed Harichandan about the pending Public Interest Litigation in the High Court on holding elections to the local bodies and the stance taken by the SEC.

The SEC issue figured prominently in the Chief Ministers meeting with his party colleagues on Thursdayevening,the sources said.

Coming out of the meeting, state minister Kodali Srivenkateswara Rao (Nani) lashed out at Ramesh Kumar and demanded that he step down immediately as the SEC.

"Ramesh Kumar is acting like a stooge of (TDP president) Chandrababu Naidu.

"Whom did the SEC consult when he abruptly postponed the elections (to local bodies) in March? He did it only on the directions of Chandrababu Naidu," Nani alleged.

Deputy Chief Minister K Narayana Swamy, ministers P R C Reddy, B S Reddy, Botsa Satyanarayana, Anil Kumar Yadav, MPs Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, V Prabhakar Reddy, Government Chief Whip in the Legislative Council U Venkateswarlu, Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, MLAs and other leaders attended the meeting.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)