Bandi challenges Congress on re-election of defectors

If the Congress leaders believed that MLAs from other parties were joining the Congress impressed by the work of the government, they should ask all those who defected to resign and seek a fresh mandate from the public, he said.

Karimnagar: Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday challenged the Congress to seek re-election of MLAs who had defected to the Congress by asking them to resign from their posts.

If the Congress leaders believed that MLAs from other parties were joining the Congress impressed by the work of the government, they should ask all those who defected to resign and seek a fresh mandate from the public, he said.

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Speaking to the media here on Sunday, he said that in order to protect their properties amassed in illegal ways, some legislators were joining the ruling party mocking the public verdict.

It was shameful on the part of the MLAs to claim that they were joining the Congress for the cause of development of their constituencies, he said.

Also brushing aside talk of the BRS merging with the BJP, he said the Congress was playing a drama to divert public attention from its poll promises.

Why would the BJP enter an alliance with the BRS party, which had put BJP activists including him in jail when it was in power, he asked.

Any MLA would have to resign from the post if he or she wanted to join the BJP, he said in reply to a query on whether BRS MLA T Harish Rao would join the BJP, also adding that Harish Rao was a ‘good politician’.

Talking about the State government’s one time settlement of fee reimbursement, he asked whether the government was a bank to offer a one time settlement to loan defaulters.

College managements were in deep trouble as free reimbursement arrears were pending for many years.

Subsequently, students were also facing troubles, he said and wanted the government to clear all fee reimbursement arrears.