Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. File
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy hinted that MLA membership could be cancelled or suspended if members wilfully violate the House norms, and recalled how the previous BRS government cancelled the membership of Congress MLAs Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and A. Sampath Kumar just for raising an objection.
In an informal chat with reporters in the Assembly on Wednesday, he also cited his suspension for an entire session in the 2014-2018 Assembly for questioning the government’s failures. “The government is not in favour of suspensions and expulsions of members but the Speaker can take a decision on such matters if members continue to violate House norms,” he said.
The Chief Minister was reacting to why the BRS members, who disrupted the Assembly proceedings, were not sent out by the Speaker. He said the treasury benches showed a lot of restraint and patience as the Speaker had the right and he had to take the final decision.
Mr. Reddy clarified that he did not use unparliamentary language while speaking about Sabitha Indra Reddywho accused him of targeting and insulting her or being rude to her. “I took her name only after she mentioned my name in her speech. Moreover, she crossed the line referring to a private discussion we had years ago. I had to respond taking her name and reveal what transpired between us when I joined the Congress.”
The Chief Minister said ‘Sabithakka’ (Sabitha Indra Reddy) encouraged him to join the Congress and predicted a good political future. At the same time, when he sought her blessings to contest as Malkajgiri MP in 2019 she promised all the support but joined the TRS (now BRS) the day he got the party ticket.
Referring to another BRS MLA Sunitha Laxma Reddy, he said the BRS government filed two cases against him while campaigning for her in the 2018 elections. After that, she joined the BRS, and secured political positions but never asked KCR to remove cases against him, he argued.
Lashing out at the BRS, Mr. Reddy said if ‘Sabithakka’ felt insulted and distressed why is the BRS LP leader K. Chandrashekhar Rao staying away from the House? “He should have come and stood by her.” If KTR and Mr. Harish Rao think they were enough to deal with the government let KCR leave his position, he said.
