In another blow for Congress in Telangana, 12 of its MLAs on Thursday met Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and sought merger of the group with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
The MLAs met the Speaker at his residence and submitted a memorandum claiming that the decision to merge with the TRS was taken at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), a claim the state Congress President N Uttam Kumar Reddy rejected.
Reddy said the defectors cannot claim to have convened a Legislature Party meeting without his permission. “The Congress will fight it democratically, we are looking for the Assembly Speaker since morning, he is missing. You people help us in finding him,” he said.
“We are going to Telangana High Court tomorrow and if we don’t get sufficient remedy, we will go to Supreme Court. We will also be filing cases in the Lokpal with evidence of MLAs benefiting out of changing parties. We are going on 36 hour fast on June 8,” he added.
He also said the MLAs have been periodically expressing their wish to join the TRS and they should have been disqualified by the Speaker when the Congress filed a disqualification petition against them. The disqualification petititons have been kept pending, he said.
“We are going to Telangana High Court tomorrow and if we don’t get sufficient remedy, we will go to the Supreme Court. We will also be filing cases in the Lokpal with evidence of MLAs benefiting out of changing parties. We are going on a 36 hour fast on June 8,” he said.
The Congress leader also accused the speaker of not withholding the dignity of his office.
“The Speaker hasn’t withheld the dignity of his office. We tried to contact him by every means but he wasn’t available for us,” he said.
“But in some secret place, the Speaker took some representation from defected Congress MLAs against whom disqualification notices under anti-defection law are pending with him and announced the merger of Congress Legislature Party. Can anything be more disgraceful?” he asked.
Meanwhile, another party MLA Pilot Rohithreddy from Thandur constituency has resigned from the party and is likely to join the TRS. He was suspended from TRS last year after which he joined the Congress. He won the election from Tandur.
Uttam Kumar Reddy, who was elected to Lok Sabha recently, has also resigned from Huzurnagar Assembly constituency.
Speaking on the development, Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao said, “TRS has bought our MLAs like cattle. They are not letting me in spite of the fact that I am a former MLA, a minister and three-time MP.
KCR is frightened of opposition. 12 MLAs have merged with TRS.” Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Minister of Animal Husbandry in the Telangana government rejected these allegations.
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