Hyderabad: The Congress will press for an amendment to the Anti-Defection law, seeking inclusion of a clause fixing a definite time limit for presiding officers to dispose of the pleas of disqualification of defecting members.
The party will also simultaneously move the High Court and the Supreme Court against Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandras-ekhar Rao for openly encouraging defections into his party.
This was disclosed by AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh who was in Hyderabad on Sunday for the coordination panel meet of Telangana Congress leaders.
Speaking to newsmen, Mr Singh described Mr Rao’s encouragement of defections of four Congress MLAs into the TRS as a shameful act which had never happened anywhere in the country.
“It is a blatant violation of Constitution and Parliamentary decency and democracy; we will move the HC and SC on these issues and also in Parliament,” he said.
Nine MLCs and four Congress MLAs have crossed over to TRS recently in the presence of the CM without quitting their membership in the House and the petitions seeking their disqualification of membership are pending with the Speaker of the Assembly and chairman of the Council.
The Anti-Defection Law empowers the presiding officers to decide on the petitions seeking disqualification of members on the grounds of defection. But there is no time frame defined to decide the matter.
“We shall make it an issue and seek amendment for the law in Parliament,” Mr Digvijay Singh said.
Referring to renaming of the Shamshabad Airport after NTR, the Congress general secretary wondered how there could be two names for one airport and said that the party would move the High Court regarding this too.
