KTR challenges Revanth to get turncoats to resign and face polls

BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to get all six MLAs who defected from the BRS to the Congress to resign and face elections.

Hyderabad: Tearing into the Congress party for encouraging defections against its own manifesto, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to get all six MLAs who defected from the BRS to the Congress to resign and face elections. He also said the BRS would not be weakened by the defections of a few leaders, because lakhs of cadre still remained loyal.

Addressing BRS party workers at Jagtial, he said if Revanth Reddy had courage, he should make all the six MLAs seek re-election. The people of Telangana would own up the responsibility of ensuring that the six MLAs were defeated and seal their political grave, he said.

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Reminding Revanth Reddy of his own comments while he was in the opposition that there would be no defections if the Congress came to power, he also recalled Revanth Reddy’s earlier statement that defectors should be stoned, and asked who should face the people’s wrath in the current scenario.

“Should it be Revanth Reddy, the defectors from BRS, or Congress MP Rahul Gandhi?” he asked.

Stressing that Rahul Gandhi had in the past demanded that if an elected representative switches parties, their membership should be automatically cancelled, he pointed out that the Congress party had assured the same in its manifesto. “People should recognize the contradiction between what Rahul Gandhi had promised and what Revanth Reddy is doing in Telangana,” Rama Rao said, adding that even Congress MLC T Jeevan Reddy had criticized his own party over the defections.

Stating that it was the Congress that started the practice of defections during Indira Gandhi’s regime, he said the practice continued in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh as well with 10 TRS MLAs being made to switch over after the 2004 elections. However, despite the defections, the BRS would not become weak as lakhs of party workers still remained loyal. Expressing confidence in the party, Rama Rao said Jagtial MLA Dr Sanjay Kumar had joined Congress under the pretence of development, but it was actually for his own vested interests. He asked Sanjay whether he had joined the Congress to say that Jagtial district would be lost after the proposed reorganisation of districts, and called on the people of Jagtial to fight against the unethical defection of the MLA.

Stating that the Congress government was diverting the people’s attention from its failures, he criticized Revanth Reddy for delaying the Rythu Bandhu enhancement to Rs.15,000 and not providing Rs.2,500 for women among other poll promises.