Turncoat MLAs: Congress in a spot of bother

The High Court's notices to the 10 turncoat MLAs has now further put the Congress in a spot of bother.

Hyderabad: All the enthusiasm and excitement that was exhibited by the Congress in welcoming the 10 turncoat MLAs into the partyfold appear to have fizzled out. The High Court’s notices to the 10 turncoat MLAs has now further put the Congress in a spot of bother. After having encouraged defection of BRS MLAs, the party is now trying to distance itself from the MLAs.

The way the Congress handled Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi‘s presence at the Congress Legislative Party meeting at a private hotel reflects the current situation. Despite the presence of Gandhi, Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, Rajendranagar MLA Prakash Goud and Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiam Srihari at the CLP meeting venue, the Congress leaders made a vain bid to downplay their presence.

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Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu even went to the extent of saying that the Serilingampally MLA had come to greet Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the venue as a courtesy. He was here since the venue comes under his constituency limits, the Minister had claimed. But his claims evoked sharp criticism from different sections. While, acknowledging the fact that Gandhi was the local MLA, many took to social media and questioned the Congress about the presence of Nagender, Prakash Goud and Kadiam Srihari at the venue.

Now, with the High Court issuing notices to the 10 turncoat MLAs, the Congress has been cornered. The notices were issued following a petition filed by Praja Shanthi Party chief KA Paul seeking disqualification of the MLAs. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sreenivas Rao, also issued notices to the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly and Secretary of the Election Commission of India (ECI), directing them to respond within four weeks.

Much is stake now for the Congress and a lot will depend on the MLAs’ reply to the notices. The Congress think-tank is already exploring different possibilities and the plan of action to be adopted in the wake of the High Court’s notices. It is also learnt that the Congress leadership is more worried about the repercussions of the entire episode in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and other States.