Disqualification petitions: Telangana Speaker acted under pressure from Rahul Gandhi, alleges BRS
Hyderabad, March 11 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has alleged that Telangana Assembly Speaker took the decision on the disqualification petitions against defecting MLAs under pressure from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) accused the Congress leadership of orchestrating the entire episode.
Addressing a press conference, he called Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s decision, dismissing disqualification petitions against the remaining two MLAs, as highly undemocratic and shocking.
Like in the case of eight BRS MLAs earlier, the Speaker ruled on Wednesday that there is no evidence that Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari defected to the Congress party.
KTR said the Speaker had virtually no independence in the matter and that the Congress party itself was directly managing the defection operations in the state.
According to him, the decision represents a direct assault on democracy and the Constitution of India, and the principal architect behind this unethical move is Rahul Gandhi.
“The main perpetrator and the criminal mind behind this decision is Rahul Gandhi. He is the real culprit. Without his permission and approval, the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly would never have dared to take such a shocking decision,” KTR stated.
He further alleged that Rahul Gandhi was encouraging such unethical political activities for the sake of massive money flows coming from the state, describing the developments as part of a politically motivated operation.
KTR questioned the moral authority of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party to speak about defections. “Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party have absolutely no moral right to lecture anyone about political defections,” he said.
Criticising what he described as hypocrisy in Rahul Gandhi’s political stance, the BRS leader said that the Congress leader claims to be the defender of the Constitution while simultaneously encouraging defections. “On one hand, Rahul Gandhi carries the Constitution in his hand and claims to be its protector. On the other hand, his party is enabling defections and protecting defectors,” he said.
KTR also questioned how an MLA who had won on a BRS B-Form could contest as a Congress candidate for Parliament without resigning from the Assembly, yet still escape disqualification.
“An MLA who won on one party’s B-Form contests as an MP candidate on another party’s B-Form without resigning. Despite such clear evidence, the Speaker refuses to disqualify him. This is nothing short of political manipulation,” he said, referring to Nagender, who contested as Congress candidate from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.
“All the evidence is already in the public domain. The Election Commission records clearly show which B-Form the MLA used to contest the Assembly election and which B-Form he is using now to contest for Parliament. What further inquiry is needed?” he asked.
KTR further criticised Rahul Gandhi for speaking about automatic disqualification in cases of defection during his speeches in Telangana and for promoting the ‘Nyay Patra’, while allegedly allowing the Congress government to protect defectors.
“Rahul Gandhi talks about automatic disqualification if someone defects. He came to Telangana and delivered lectures on justice and democratic values. Now he must answer how such blatant defections are being protected,” KTR said.
He also argued that the Congress party historically had no credibility on the issue of defections, recalling that the ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ political culture began during the Congress era under Indira Gandhi in Haryana, and that Congress had similarly encouraged defections in the past, including in the united Andhra Pradesh.