Hyderabad, Mar 23 (IANS): The ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh has sought disqualification of nine of its legislators who voted in favour of the no confidence motion tabled by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) last week.

The Congress Legislature Party Saturday submitted a petition to assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar, seeking disqualification of the legislators who switched loyalties to the YSR Congress party.

Government chief whip Gandra Venkataramna Reddy called on the speaker and submitted the petition. With this, the ruling party has sent out a message that it is prepared to face by-elections.

The decision to submit the petition was taken after Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, state Congress Committee president Botcha Satyanarayana and Venkataramana Reddy held discussions on the issue Friday.

Earlier, the party was apparently reluctant to seek disqualification as this would cause by-elections; the assembly elections are scheduled in a year's time.

The MLAs whose disqualification has been sought are - Alla Nani (Eluru), G. Ravi Kumar (Addanki), D. Chandrasekara Reddy (Kakinada), Jogi Ramesh (Pedana), Perni Nani (Machilipatnam), B. Sivaprasada Reddy (Darsi), M. Rajesh (Chintalapudi), S. Krishna Ranga Rao (Bobbili) and P. Ramchandra Reddy (Punganur).

The Congress party has not sought action against associate member K. Srisailam Goud, who called on YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in Chanchalguda prison on Friday. The party is likely to submit a separate petition against him.

Goud is an independent legislator, but had proclaimed his affiliation to the ruling party.