KTR takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi over ‘MLA Chori’ in Telangana

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday took a swipe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over “MLA Chori”, targeting him over defection of BRS MLAs to the ruling party in Telangana.

The Sircilla MLA took to social media and shared pictures of 10 MLAs who defected from the BRS along with chief minister A Revanth Reddy. “Dear Rahul Gandhi, Please take a look at this image. Can you recognise the Congress Scarf?,” Read the post.

“Do you recognise these defected BRS MLAs who had also met with you in Delhi?,” the former Telangana minister questioned Gandhi. “Now all these MLAs who joined Congress after winning on BRS ticket are saying they didn’t switch parties and this isn’t Congress scarf. Do you agree? Isn’t this MLA Chori? How is it different from vote chori?,” KTR asked.

The former Telangana IT minister took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi’s “Vote Chori” remark at the Centre, which he made earlier this year.

Defected MLAs

KTR compared the defection of BRS MLAs to the Congress party in 2024.

In the most recent development in the case, in August Telangana Assembly speaker gaddam Prasad Kumar issued notices to the ten defected BRS MLAs. On July 31, the top court ordered the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly to decide within three months on disqualification petitions filed against 10 BRS MLAs who defected to the Congress after the 2023 state elections, citing delays that undermine democratic principles.

The notice seeks clarification on whether the MLAs have officially joined the Congress party or not.

Leaders of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the main opposition party, had appealed to Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to disqualify all 10 BRS MLAs who defected to Congress since March last year.

Danam Nagender (Khairatabad constituency), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), M. Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), T. Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), B. Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), G. Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), and Kale Yadaiah (Chevella) defected to the Congress party last year.

This article has been updated with a new featured image.