Wanaparthy (Telangana) [India], September 19 : BRS Working President KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Saturday demanded that MLAs who switched from the BRS to the Congress should resign from their posts and seek a fresh mandate from the people, citing the Telangana High Court's judgment on MLA Danam Nagender's disqualification.
KTR said the state government should apply the same principle to all remaining cases involving MLAs who defected from the BRS.
He said, "The government should take note of the High Court’s judgment on MLA disqualification and apply the same principle to the remaining defected MLAs. Every MLA who defected from the BRS to the Congress should resign and face the people’s verdict."
He further challenged the Congress government to ask the defected MLAs to resign and contest fresh elections if it was confident of its mandate.
"If the Congress government is confident of its mandate, it should make the defected MLAs resign and seek a fresh mandate.The Speaker’s decision having been set aside by the High Court, the same legal principle must be applied to the remaining cases. We challenge the Congress government to make the remaining defected MLAs resign and face elections," he added.
KTR made the remarks during his visit to the Gummadam substation in Pebberu mandal of Wanaparthy district, where he interacted with farmers and reviewed the power supply situation.
During his visit to Wanaparthy district, KTR also visited the Gummadam substation in Pebberu mandal along with local farmers and inspected the power supply situation.
KTR checked the substation logbook and sought details from officials regarding the electricity supply being provided to farmers. A large number of farmers present at the substation raised concerns over frequent and prolonged power cuts, claiming that they were not receiving even six hours of uninterrupted power supply.
KTR alleged that water was being released as a "Gurudakshina" to the Chief Minister's political mentor instead of being provided to farmers in the Palamuru region.
Rao said, "Telangana CM Revanth Reddy is releasing water as Gurudakshina to his political guru. Instead of providing water to the farmers of Palamuru, Revanth Reddy is denying them their rightful share, sending the water downstream and offering it to his guru. Around 100 TMC of water from Srisailam is flowing towards Veligonda and Pothireddypadu. During this season, Revanth Reddy has provided only 18 TMC of water to farmers under Jurala. There are nearly 150 TMC of water in the Almatti and Narayanpur reservoirs in Karnataka upstream. The Congress government is in power there too, yet they are not releasing water. Remember this, Revanth Reddy: If even a single acre under Jurala dries up, I will not spare you or your government. I will fight you relentlessly on behalf of the farmers."
Meanwhile, Nagender was elected from Khairatabad on a BRS ticket in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections. He subsequently joined the Congress and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket. Though he lost the parliamentary election, he continued as the Khairatabad MLA.
Petitions were filed seeking his disqualification on the ground that his decision to join the Congress amounted to voluntarily giving up membership of the BRS and attracted the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, commonly known as the anti-defection law.
The Assembly Speaker had earlier rejected the petitions seeking Nagender’s disqualification. The decision was challenged before the High Court, leading to a prolonged legal battle over the issue.
A Division Bench of the Telangana High Court has now set aside the Speaker’s decision and disqualified Nagender as an MLA. The court held that the Khairatabad Assembly constituency had fallen vacant and that a fresh election would have to be conducted.
The court has also specified April 23, 2024 as the effective date of Nagender’s disqualification. The verdict comes against the backdrop of a larger controversy involving BRS MLAs who subsequently joined the ruling Congress. The BRS has been demanding their disqualification, maintaining that legislators elected on its ticket cannot switch parties and continue to hold their Assembly seats.