Congress counters BRS on defection charges

Mohammed Ali Shabbir condemns BRS for criticising the Congress party citing anti-defection laws and morals and undermining democracy.

Hyderabad: Countering the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) charges over the Congress encouraging defections, Congress leaders here said it was the BRS that had actually started the culture of defections since 2014 in the State. Advisor to the Telangana Government Mohammed Ali Shabbir accused the BRS of undermining democracy by decimating the opposition.

He reminded that between March 2 and June 6, 2020, BRS had engineered the defection of 12 Congress MLAs and effectively stripped Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka of status of the Leader of Opposition. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he condemned the BRS for criticising the Congress party citing anti-defection laws and morals.

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When Congress and Telugu Desam Party MLAs joined the BRS, its leadership justified defections claiming that they were joining the ruling party to develop their constituencies and Telangana. However, now when BRS members were joining Congress, the same logic was not being applied, he said.

Meanwhile, responding to BRS working president KT Rama Rao’s charges that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was ‘Cutting Master’, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said the Chief Minister was a ‘Correcting Master’. The State government was ensuring that genuine beneficiaries get benefited out of the welfare programmes. The cabinet Sub Committee on Rythu Bharosa was constituted not to delay things but to make it an ideal programme, he said in a statement issued on Monday.