Hyderabad: A day after the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of engineering the defection of two party MLAs to TRS, TRS working president K T Rama Rao hit back at Reddy saying there were many instances in the past where several MLAs and public representatives had joined Congress and asked whether they were also purchased.
Pointing out media reports of a sitting BJP MP in Uttar Pradesh joining the Congress in the presence of its president Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday, Rao asked whether Congress followed the same policy.
Also reacting to a Congress MLA commenting that the TRS leadership lacked effectiveness, he said, “We already have the number of MLAs to win all the five in the Legislative Council election. We automatically have the win with second preference (voting). We don’t have to invite anyone afresh for this election.”
Two MLAs – Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka) and Atram Sakku (Asifabad) – had on Saturday issued a joint statement that they had decided to join the TRS and had spoken about it to the Chief Minister.
Reacting to this, Reddy said a complaint would be lodged with the Election Commission, seeking immediate disqualification of the two MLAs and both of them should not be allowed to vote in the 12 March MLC elections. He also added that the State Congress would hold a protest today at Pinapaka and Asifabad against the Chief Minister.
Congress leaders, MLAs and MLCs staged a dharna before the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Assembly premises on Sunday led by Uttam Kumar Reddy and CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka to protest against the Chief Minister.
In a statement, the two MLAs who joined TRS slammed the Congress for saying they were purchased by TRS. They retaliated by saying that they were ready to quit membership of the assembly.
Telangana Congress party treasurer Gudur Narayana issued a statement that the two MLAs had won the assembly elections less than 100 days ago by criticising the TRS and further criticised Rama Rao for defending their defection.
In the election to fill five vacancies in the Council, the TRS has fielded four candidates, leaving one seat to its ally MIM. The Congress has 19 MLAs in the House and it requires two more MLAs to win the MLC election from the Assembly quota. But with the defection of the Two MLA’s, Congress votes have gone down to 17, which is a major set back. Following Veeraiah’s decision, the TDP is left with only one MLA. The TRS’ strength is 88, with two other MLAs also supporting the party. AIMIM has seven MLAs.