Parliament yet to approve TRS transformation to BRS despite request

Nearly three months after ECI cleared the road for transformation of the TRS to BRS, both the Houses of the Parliament are yet to recognise the name change

Hyderabad: Nearly three months after the Election Commission of India (ECI) cleared the road for transformation of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, both the Houses of the Parliament are yet to recognise the name change. The party’s request for separate chambers also has been kept pending.

On October 5 last year, party president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced the transformation of TRS into BRS. The same was communicated to the Election Comission of India (ECI) immediately for approval to change the name and formalise the party’s entry into national politics. In response, the ECI approved the party’s name change on December 8 last year. Though the BRS had submitted applications in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to redesignate all TRS MPs as BRS MPs, both the Houses were yet to give a clearance for this.

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Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Wednesday invited BRS Lok Sabha floor leader Nama Nageshwara Rao to attend the Parliament’s Business Advisory Committee meeting as the TRS floor leader. Ironically, he has been a “special invitee” in the BAC, but not a “member” of the Committee. A special invitee member can attend the BAC meeting only by invitation, which is not mandatory for other regular members.

“The TRS has been a special invitee on the BAC since 2019 general elections to the Lok Sabha. Our request to change the name to the BRS is yet to get approved,” Nageshwara Rao told mediapersons on Wednesday.

As per the Parliamentary norms, any political party which has more than six members in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha will be a BAC member of the respective House. The BRS has nine members and is the 10th largest party in the Lok Sabha. The House Speaker is authorised to appoint a 15-member committee including himself where the ruling BJP alone has eight members, followed by one member each from eight political parties with the highest number of members. Both Bahujan Samajwadi Party and BRS have been special invitees on the panel since its constitution.