Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) challenged Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy to get the six BRS MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress to resign and re-contest their seats.
KTR in a statement reminded chief minister Revanth Reddy “of his own words” when he was in the opposition about his statements on defections. The ex-IT minister said that Revanth had claimed there would be no defections if Congress came to power in Telangana.
The BRS leader, in a statement also recalled Revanth Reddy reportedly saying that defectors should be stoned if they change parties. However, it may be recalled that during the nine years of the previous government under the BRS in Telangana, KTR’s father and ex-chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) had engineered defections during both his terms. In fact, after the 2018 Telangana state elections, 12 out of 18 Congress MLAs had defected to the BRS within a year.
On Monday, KTR also said that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had previously demanded that if an elected representative switches parties, their membership should be automatically canceled. “KTR urged people to recognize the contradiction between what Rahul Gandhi and Revanth Reddy promised and what they are currently doing,” said the release from his office.
In the 2023 Telangana Assembly polls, the Congress won by bagging 64 out of 119 seats, while the BRS could secure 39. Since, then six BRS legislators have shifted sides to the ruling party. The last one to do so was Chevella MLA Kale Yadaiah.
