Congress men are attracted by K. Chandrasekhar Rao: K.T. Rama Rao
The new Telangana state was born after a protracted struggle. The pace of its development has to keep up with the aspirations of the people. That is the reason why the people have given a clear mandate to the TRS in the recent elections. After the elections, we are seeing instances of leaders from other political parties joining the TRS. This has to be seen in the context of political realignment in the newly formed state.
Our Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao led the statehood movement for 14 years. Today, as the CM of the new state, he has embarked on a challenging journey to reconstruct Telangana state as per the aspirations of our people. Leaders of other parties have realised that their respective political parties can never protect the interests of TS and they could become a part of the Telangana development story only by aligning with the honourable CM and strengthening his hands. Congress members have been creating a lot of noise about some of their leaders joining the TRS. They have no moral authority to question the TRS. My only advice to them is to look back at their own party’s history. Leave alone individual leaders, in the 100 years of its existence, the Congress has gobbled up over 70 political parties in merger politics. In the combined state of AP, the Congress had resorted to unethical political moves, such as conspiring to remove the former CM N.T. Rama Rao by luring Nadendla Bhaskar Rao. In 2006, Congress took away 10 MLAs from the TRS. The answer that the Congress leadership gave then was that these MLAs have joined their party for the sake of development. Now, when some Congress leaders have joined the TRS, the Congress is raising a hue and cry.
If the Congress had opposed crossover in the past, it would have had the moral right to question them now. Those who are criticising our CM should recall how UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had welcomed our party MP only a few months back at her residence. Will they accept that Mrs Gandhi herself encouraged defections? Out of the current MLAs from the Congress in the Assembly, almost 30 per cent have come into that party from other parties. Instead of criticising the TRS, Congress men should introspect why leaders are leaving. The grand old party of India is on its deathbed today. The Congress leadership should understand that the MLAs are leaving the party because they are attracted to the vision of our Chief Minister.
Defections because law isn’t time bound: N Uttam Kumar Reddy
Defections are not new to Indian politics even 29 years after the anti-defection Act was enacted in 1985. Nine Congress MLCs and four MLAs have stated that they are resigning from the Congress and joining the TRS. It is unfortunate that the first CM of the new state, who had sworn while taking the oath of office to work as per the Constitution, is himself formally admitting the MLCs and MLAs into his party. Why is there such brazen defiance of the anti-defection law? It appears that the law is toothless if the presiding officers of the Houses do not act upon it, or delay taking action on complaints by the aggrieved political parties.
The 52nd Amendment laid down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection. In the last 29 years, complaints have been made against 62 members of the Lok Sabha. Of these, 26 were disqualified. Four cases were made against Rajya Sabha members, and all of them were upheld. In the legislature of United AP, up to 2014, out of 268 complaints, 113 were upheld. As per the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, the power to disqualify a member for defection rests with the presiding officer of the House. The law is silent, as of now, as to what happens if the presiding officer decides to ignore the complaint or delay it inordinately in order to protect the defector.
This particular lacuna in the law is encouraging defections as the presiding officer (who usually belongs to the ruling party or coalition) keeps the complaints pending for a long time, sometimes even beyond the life of that particular House. The Telangana Congress Legislature Party will soon be approaching the Supreme Court with video footage and such other evidence for a ruling on this matter. Can the decision of the presiding officer be challenged in a court of law? The law states that the decision is of the presiding officer is final and not subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court struck down part of this condition. The final decision is subject to appeal in the High Courts and the Supreme Court. The Telangana Congress Legislature Party will be appealing to the Supreme Court to lay down a time frame for the presiding officers.
