Is this how you protect Constitution, BRS leader asks LoP Gandhi

Hyderabad, March 13 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Deputy Floor Leader in Telangana Assembly on Friday wrote a letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, questioning the ‘glaring contradiction’ between what he preaches nationally about protecting the Constitution and what his party practices in Telangana where it holds power.

Day after Telangana Assembly Speaker dismissed the petitions for disqualification of two BRS MLAs, including Danam Nagender who had contested as a Congress candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Harish Rao told the Congress leader that he cannot claim to defend the Constitution in Delhi while allowing his party to dilute it in Telangana.

The BRS leader asked Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, if he would advise the Chief Minister and the Speaker in Telangana to immediately act against Nagender under the anti-defection law.

“Or should the country conclude that the Congress party speaks about the Constitution only when it suits its politics?,” he asked.

“The people of Telangana, and indeed the nation, deserve an honest answer. The Constitution cannot be defended through speeches alone. It must be upheld through actions, especially when it is politically inconvenient,” wrote the former minister.

The BRS leader wrote that Rahul Gandhi travels across the country proclaiming that he fighting to protect the Constitution. “In Parliament, in public meetings, and in political campaigns, you repeatedly claim that safeguarding constitutional values is the central mission of the Congress party. Your party’s 2024 election manifesto also promised to strengthen democratic institutions and uphold the anti-defection framework to protect the mandate of the people. However, what is happening in Telangana exposes a glaring contradiction between what you preach nationally and what your party practices where it holds power,” reads the letter.

Harish Rao mentioned that Nagender, elected as an MLA on the ticket of the BRS, openly contested the Lok Sabha election using an official Congress B-Form issued by the Indian National Congress. This is not speculation. This is not hearsay. This is a matter of public record. Yet the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, belonging to your party, claims that there is “no evidence of defection.” If contesting an election on a Congress B-Form while being an MLA of another party is not evidence of defection, then the country deserves to know: What exactly is evidence of defection under the Tenth Schedule? Is this how the Congress party protects the Constitution? Is this the constitutional morality you lecture the nation about?,” he asked.

“Unfortunately, instead of defending the Constitution, the Congress government in Telangana appears determined to protect political defections and weaken the mandate of the voters. The anti-defection law exists to protect democracy from exactly this kind of political opportunism. When a legislator elected on one party’s mandate contests under another party’s banner and still continues as MLA without disqualification, the spirit of the Constitution is reduced to a political slogan,” the BRS leader added.