KTR hits back at Rahul Gandhi, calls defections ‘murder of democracy’

The BRS working president countered Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” remarks, accusing the Congress of hypocrisy over MLAs defecting to its side. He challenged Gandhi to make the defected BRS legislators resign and contest fresh bypolls, calling defections “murder of democracy”

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao countered Congress leader Rahul Gandhi‘s remarks of “Vote Chori” (vote theft) and accused him of hypocrisy for remaining silent over his own Congress government’s “MLA Chori” (MLA defection). He challenged Rahul Gandhi to prove his morale by making the defected BRS MLAs resign and seek a re-election on Congress ticket.

In a strong counter, Rama Rao said if stealing votes was a crime, then buying MLAs elected by the people was nothing short of murdering democracy in broad daylight. He demanded that Rahul Gandhi ask these MLAs to resign and contest fresh bypolls, without which the Congress leader had no moral right to speak about democracy or vote theft.

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Pointing to the defection of 10 BRS MLAs to the ruling Congress, the BRS working president said the Congress lured them with power and money. “This is not politics, this is trading people’s mandate like cattle in a fair,” he remarked.

Rama Rao accused Rahul Gandhi of double standards, stating that the Congress leader preaches constitutional values in Delhi, while mocking them in Telangana. “This is proof that deception and hypocrisy is in the DNA of Congress,” he said. He stated that people of Telangana were detesting Congress’ defection politics and were ready to teach a fitting lesson at appropriate time.