Hyderabad: Calling the Congress Lok Sabha election manifesto “hypocrisy”, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday attacked the former over recent defections by BRS legislators to the ruling party in Telangana.
Titled ‘Nyay Patra’, the grand old party released its manifesto for the upcoming General Elections on Friday, which also included the Congress’ promises to uphold the sanctity of the Indian Constitution by advocating for automatic disqualification of members defecting from their original party.
In a press statement, KTR said that the recent defections from the BRS to the Congress show the “glaring hypocrisy” within the party’s ranks. “Yet, the reality in Telangana tells a different story altogether. Within a mere three-week period preceding the release of this idealistic manifesto, two Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and three Members of Parliament (MPs) from Telangana defected from the regional BRS party to the ruling Congress party in the state,” said the ex-Telangana IT minister.
The BRS working president pointed out the latest defection on March 30 of Station Ghanpur MLA Kadian Srihari and his daughter Kavya to the Congress just days after Kavya had received a BRS MP ticker.
Calling it “opportunistic behavior, KTR stated pointed out that prior to Srihari, BRS MLA Danam Nagender also made a similar switch to the Congress. In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections three BRS MPs -Ranjith Reddy of Chevella, Venkatesh Netha Borlakunta of Peddapalle, and B B Patil from Zaheerabad – jumped ship to the ruling Congress in Telangana.
“Despite repeated pleas from the BRS party leadership to the Telangana Assembly speaker and the Election Commission, there has been a conspicuous silence regarding the disqualification of these defectors. This lack of action raises doubts about the impartiality and commitment to democratic principles which the INC (Congress) promises to uphold,” KTR said.
Ever since its loss to the Congress in last year’s Assembly elections, the BRS in Telangana has seen a spate of defections to the ruling party. Two other BRS MPs also have joined the BJP as well. However, it may be noted that BRS supremo and ex-Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) also engineered several defections during his two terms from 2014 to 2023.
In fact, after winning 88 out of 119 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections, KCR pretty much emptied out the opposition by managing to bring 12 out of 19 Congress MLAs to his side. It left almost no opposition in the Assembly, as the only other legislators (until last year’s polls) were BJP’s Raja Singh, and seven All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLAs.
