BRS MLAs after meeting Speaker G. Prasad Kumar with a request to act upon disqualification petitions in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
HYDERABAD
Working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) K.T. Rama Rao has stated that a delegation of the party MLA who called on Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Tuesday have requested him to take action on the party’s petitions against 10 MLAs who have defected to the Congress so far.
Speaking after meeting the Speaker, he stated that they had requested the Speaker to take a decision regarding Danam Nagender immediately as they had petitioned against his defection to the ruling party over three months back. They had also brought to the Speaker’s notice the petitions moved against another nine MLAs of the party.
Stating that they had read out the content of the Supreme Court judgment on the defection of Manipur MLA before the Speaker, Mr. Rama Rao said delay in taking action against the disqualification petitions even three months after receiving them would bring disrepute to the post. Further, the decisions of Speakers of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh assemblies against the defected Congress MLAs were also brought to the Speaker’s notice.
Referring to a recent statement of Karnataka Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah of the Congress that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was making an attempt to buy his party’s MLAs by offering ₹50 crore each, Mr. Rama Rao sought to know what would be the amount the Congress could have spent in taking 10 BRS MLAs and 7 MLCs in Telangana so far.
He pointed out that Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was making tall claims of protecting the Constitution in Delhi, while his party was flaying it day-in and day-out in Telangana. They had mentioned how Rahul Gandhi had made the Congress candidates in Goa take a vow that they would not shift loyalty after getting elected, he said.
The BRS working president alleged that the ruling Congress was using all tactics to force BRS MLAs to join it and in case the latter were stubborn the government was damaging assets and properties of BRS MLAs as it did in case of C. Malla Reddy (Medchal) and M. Rajasekhar Reddy (Malkajigiri). The town planning authorities were threatening the BRS MLAs having real estate business interests.
In case, the Speaker failed to act upon the disqualification petitions of BRS in time, within three months as suggested by the Supreme Court, the party would not hesitate to approach the Apex Court for justice, he reiterated. The Congress which had once criticised BJP as a ‘washing machine’ in the past was doing the same thing now, he stated.
