Murder of democracy, says KTR on Telangana Speaker’s verdict

Hyderabad, Dec 17 The Congress party has murdered democracy on the floor of the Assembly, said Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday in his reaction to Telangana Assembly Speaker’s verdict, dismissing petitions for the disqualification of five BRS MLAs who allegedly switched loyalties to Congress.

K. T. Rama Rao (KTR) remarked that it has once again been proven that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party have absolutely no respect for the nation's highest courts or the Constitution.

KTR ridiculed the Congress leadership, stating that merely posing for photos holding a copy of the Constitution is not enough.

"Rahul Gandhi will go down in history as an incompetent leader who failed to respect the very Anti-Defection Law brought in by his own father, late Rajiv Gandhi," he said.

In a statement, KTR termed it a clear display of double standards by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party to protect MLAs who have openly admitted to defecting for 'development'.

The BRS leader stated that the Congress party is backing away from disqualifying the defectors solely out of fear of facing by-elections. He noted that there is a surge of anti-incumbency across villages against Revanth Reddy’s two-year rule, especially with the upcoming Panchayat elections.

"The Telangana society clearly understands that the Congress is delaying action against defected MLAs only because they are terrified of the backlash," he added.

KTR expressed anger that the Congress party has been making a mockery of the Constitution at every step—from the day CM Revanth Reddy personally visited BRS MLAs' homes to encourage defections, up to today's Speaker's decision.

He alleged that the Speaker took a decision contrary to the defection petitions under pressure from the Congress party.

The former minister expressed surprise that the Speaker succumbed to the local Congress leadership's pressure, completely ignoring the spirit of the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court.

He stated that the Speaker acted in an undemocratic and unconstitutional manner by disregarding the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law.

KTR affirmed that the BRS party strongly opposes this decision taken by the Speaker.

KTR stated that while the Congress might celebrate saving the defected MLAs temporarily using technicalities, the people of their respective constituencies have already disqualified them in the public court.

--IANS

ms/dan

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