BRS meets Speaker seeking action against defectors, protocol violations

Speaking on the occasion, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said the Congress government has been systematically infringing on the rights of opposition MLAs and deliberately undermining the protocol.

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Monday met Speaker Gaddam Prasad seeking disqualification of defected MLAs and also lodged a complaint against frequent protocol violations. The BRS delegation led by party working president KT Rama Rao and senior leader T Harish Rao met the Speaker at the Assembly, urging for his urgent intervention in this regard.

Speaking to the media later, Rama Rao said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was using intimidating tactics to poach BRS MLAs. Two BRS MLAs had received phone calls from local police officials, cautioning that there was a threat to their lives. Similarly, the official machinery was used to demolish constructions at educational institutions belonging to MLAs Ch Malla Reddy and Marri Rajasekhar Reddy, while those having real estate business were being harassed with the help of municipal officials.

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“Just like Bade Bhai (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) uses Central agencies like ED and CBI to intimidate opposition leaders, Chote Bhai (Revanth Reddy) is using State agencies to threaten our MLAs. The Congress which criticised the BJP as a washing machine party, is doing the same thing in Telangana. People will definitely punish MLAs who switch parties in the public sphere no matter what they do,” he said.

The ruling party had poached around 10 MLAs, six MLCs and one Rajya Sabha member from the BRS which already complained against Danam Nagender on March 18. “We have already lodged our complaints through email, registered post and WhatsApp. Today, we submitted our complaints physically once again,” he said.

Citing the Supreme Court judgement which mandates a decision on party defection issues within three months, the BRS working president called for swift action from the Speaker on unlawful party defections. “We brought to the attention of the Speaker the unfair and illegal defections encouraged by the Congress party in the State. According to the Supreme Court order, the Speaker must decide on party defections within three months,” he said.

The BRS working president pointed out that the Speaker falls within the scope of the Supreme Court’s judgment. “We have appealed to the Speaker to decide as per the Court’s guidelines, otherwise, it would be disrespecting his position,” he added.

Rama Rao criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his contradictory stance on constitutional integrity and party defections. “Rahul Gandhi vows to protect the Constitution in Delhi, but here, the Congress party tramples it by encouraging defections,” he pointed out.

Expressing confidence in the Speaker’s integrity, Rama Rao urged immediate action on their complaint. He said the BRS would approach the Supreme Court seeking justice if no decision was taken.

“We sympathise with the MLAs who defected to the Congress as they have committed political suicide. People will punish those who switch parties,” he said, also raising the frequent violation of protocol in case of BRS MLAs at official functions and events, seeking immediate action in this regard.