‘Telangana will soon witness bypolls in constituencies of MLAs who defected to Congress’

Addressing the party cadre in Ramachandrapuram in the Patancheru assembly segment, Harish Rao said the BRS would take the fight against defectors to the Supreme Court if needed to get them disqualified.

Sangareddy: Former Minister T Harish Rao said the State would witness by-elections soon in constituencies where BRS MLAs had defected to the Congress.

Addressing the party cadre in Ramachandrapuram in the Patancheru assembly segment on Wednesday, Rao said the BRS would take the fight against defectors to the Supreme Court if needed to get them disqualified. Pointing out that the BRS had already filed a petition in the High Court in this regard, he said Speaker Gaddam Prasad had three months to decide on the disqualification of the MLAs following guidelines. Criticising Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy for joining the Congress, Rao said the BRS had given him the chance to contest as MLA from Patancheru thrice.

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“The entire party leadership and cadre worked for his victory three consecutive times. I do not know how he took that decision though he benefited a lot from the BRS,” he said, adding that the BRS had witnessed several struggles in the last 24 years. When former Chief Minister, the late YS Rajashekara Reddy was in power, many BRS (then TRS) MLAs had joined the Congress when some said the party would not survive. However, the party rose from the ashes to achieve Statehood for Telangana and successfully ruled the State for 10 years. Asking the party cadre to stay united during the tough times, Rao said the party leadership would protect the cadre besides giving them enough opportunities during the local body elections. He called upon them not to lose confidence because just an MLA quit the party.

Recalling the words of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Rao said the Chief Minister, when in the opposition, had asked the people to pelt stones at MLAs who shifted loyalties. Now, the same Revanth Reddy was welcoming opposition party MLAs into the Congress fold.

Earlier, Harish Rao demanded that the State government issue a new GO amending the existing GO on the crop loan waiver. Stating the original GO said ration cards would be the eligibility criteria for the waiver, he said the GO would have to be amended since the Chief Minister had clarified the waiver would be given to people who did not have ration cards too. This was because officials might not consider this since the government had not issued by GO in this regard except for the Chief Minister’s verbal statement.