Bandi flays Congress over MLA defections, unethical politics

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar criticised the Assembly Speaker’s decision dismissing defection cases against BRS MLAs. He accused the Congress of pressuring the Speaker and said the rulings had made a mockery of democracy.

Rajanna-Sircilla: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar came down heavily on the ruling Congress party for encouraging what he described as unethical politics in the State.

Participating in the municipal election campaign in Sircilla, he reacted to the Assembly Speaker’s decision, stating that there was no evidence of BRS MLAs defecting to the Congress.

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Terming the decision ridiculous, Sanjay Kumar said that while the Speaker was otherwise known as an honest person, the Congress party was mounting pressure on him, with BRS MLAs frequently visiting Gandhi Bhavan and DCC offices, and holding meetings with Congress workers.

He further alleged that defected BRS legislators were distributing B-forms to Congress activists. It was unfortunate, he said, that the cases against defected MLAs were quashed on the grounds of lack of evidence, despite the existence of what he claimed were several pieces of evidence.

Such decisions had made a mockery of democracy, the Union Minister said, advising the Speaker not to allow the constitutional post to be sullied by decisions that brought it disrepute.

Sanjay Kumar also advised people to question the defected MLAs when they visited constituencies as part of the election campaign.

The legislators, he said, should be grilled on which party they now belonged to, which party the people should vote for, in whose favour they should exercise their franchise, and why they were campaigning for the victory of a political party after having been elected on the ticket of another party.