karma-bites-back-as-brs-telangana-faces-desertion

In its heyday, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao, used to take pride in its “Operation Akarsh”, a drive to lure the then-opposition Congress legislators into its fold to eventually make Telangana “Congress-Mukt”.

 

It did succeed in its mission to a large extent. 

 

In June 2019, as many as 12 Congress MLAs, who had switched over to the TRS in phases, met the Assembly Speaker P Srinivas Reddy, seeking to merge with the ruling party.

 

The move was significant because they constituted two-thirds of the Congress’ tally in the 119-member assembly and hence their switch over would not attract the provisions of the Anti-defection Act.

 

Five years later, Karma has hit back the TRS, now rechristened as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and smarting from the drubbing it received in the recent assembly elections. The regional party is now facing a steady desertion from its camp.

 

As many as five BRS MLAs have crossed over to the ruling Congress in the recent weeks, dealing a major blow to the party. It had managed to win 39 assembly seats in the elections held in December last year, while Congress came to power with 64 seats. The party is now struggling to keep its flock together.

 

Ironically, the former assembly speaker P Srinivas Reddy is among the defectors. Four other legislators who defected to Congress are Tellam Venkat Rao, Danam Nagender, Kadiam Srihari and Sanjay Kumar. Hyderabad Mayor Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal too has quit the BRS and joined the Congress. There is a speculation in political circles that some more BRS MLAs are preparing to join the Congress in the days ahead.

 

To knock the doors of SC

 

The BRS is planning to approach the Supreme Court seeking disqualification of its MLAs who defected to the Congress. The apex court said in the past that the Speaker must decide on a disqualification petition within three months of receiving the petition.

 

A hearing on the disqualification of Danam Nagender, the city MLA, is scheduled in the High Court on June 27. If the High Court does not immediately decide the case, the BRS will take the matter to the Supreme Court.

 

Taking strong exception to the series of defections, the BRS working president and former minister K T Rama Rao said his party had seen similar defections in the past when Congress was in power and that the grand old party had to eventually "bow down".

 

"We had faced several defections of MLAs in the past in 2004- 06 when Congress was in Government. Telangana responded strongly by stepping up the people’s agitation and eventually Congress had to bow its head. History shall repeat itself," Rao said on 'X'.

 

"Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's unconstitutional actions of poaching MLAs from other parties starkly contradict the principles of democracy championed by the late Rajiv Gandhi, particularly regarding the anti-defection law introduced during his tenure to preserve the values and integrity of the democratic process.

 

It is ironic that Revanth Reddy, as the Telangana Congress chief, who once vociferously decried political defections, now brazenly indulges in the same practices he previously condemned. This hypocrisy not only highlights his manipulative tendencies but also shows his disrespect to the legislative measures put in place by Rajiv Gandhi to prevent such political opportunism," said BRS spokesperson Sravan Dasoju.