Buoyed by a hard-earned legal victory in the Supreme Court on the ten rebel BRS MLAs who left the party for Congress, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Thursday asked party workers to prepare for bypolls in ten constituencies of Telangana.
In its verdict, the apex court has set a three-month deadline for the Legislative Assembly Speaker to decide on disqualification of the MLAs of the ten constituencies who had deserted the BRS to join the Congress party.
In this context, he lashed out at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for advocating stronger anti-defection laws even as his party encouraged defections in Telangana. Both KTR, as Rao is popularly known, and T Harish Rao, another senior BRS leader, warned the Congress party against manipulating the Speaker any further over the issue of disqualification of the dissident MLAs.
After the Supreme Court directed Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to conclude the disqualification proceedings pending against the ten MLAs, Rao said, “… we thank the Honourable CJI for ensuring that the democratic structure of this country isn’t eroded by malicious methods. I hope Rahul Gandhi, who in his Panch Nyay advocated for stronger anti-defection laws and automatic cancellation upon defection, will welcome this decision. I dare you to stand by your preachings, Mr Gandhi. I hope you and your party do not use the honourable Speaker’s position to make a mockery of the Indian Constitution any further.”
He also gave a call to party leaders and workers to prepare for the bypolls in the constituencies. “It doesn’t need much investigation to accept that all these 10 MLAs switched to Congress illegitimately and have been participating in the Congress Party programmes every single day! I thank the legal teams and BRS soldiers who stood with us during the tough times. As I interpret it, we have three months to work towards the bypolls in 10 constituencies,” said KTR.
Another senior BRS leader, T Harish Rao, took a dig at Rahul Gandhi, saying, “Can you practice what you preach? Will you urge the Telangana Speaker to act as per the anti-defection law, introduced by your father, the late Rajiv Gandhi, through the 52 nd Constitutional Amendment? Or is carrying the Constitution in hand just an electoral sham?”
The ten turncoat MLAs, include Danam Nagender, former deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari, former Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Arekapudi Gandhi. Danam Nagender had even fought the Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate without resigning as BRS MLA. So far, the chief minister’s attempt to split the BRS Legislative party and ensure at least two-thirds of the MLAs join the Congress Legislative Party has fallen flat.