12 Congress MLAs Joined TRS As Per Constitution: Sudhir Reddy

Responding to the Telangana Congress' complaint to the Moinabad police seeking an inquiry into 12 of its MLAs who had defected to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharat Rashtra Samithi) in 2019, L B Nagar MLA Sudhir Reddy, who is one of the 12 MLAs, said that the MLAs had joined the BRS as per the procedures of he 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

Speaking at a press conference, Reddy lambasted Telangana Congress Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Revanth Reddy for lodging a fresh complaint with the police even though a case related to the defections was pending in court.

"The Congress already approached a court opposing the merger of its 12 MLAs with the BRS. The case is pending with the court. At this juncture, lodging a fresh complaint with police is having no sense at all," said Reddy, who had been elected on a Congress ticket in the 2018 election and later joined the then-TRS along with another 11 other MLAs.

Condemning Revanth Reddy's allegations that the 12 MLAs had got huge monetary and political benefits after joining the BRS, the L B Nagar MLA said that they had joined hands with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the development of their respective constituencies, and that there was no violation of the Constitution involved.

"On what premise did Revanth Reddy join the Congress from the Telugu Desam Party? If he concedes that he had joined the Congress only after taking a bribe, we will readily agree with his accusation," Sudhir Reddy said.

The MLA said that it was not a new practice for opposition MLAs to join the ruling parties in India, and that there were number of instances where the Congress itself had indulged in such practices in various States when it was in power.

"And the PCC president does not have any right to speak about democracy as he was caught red-handed in the vote-for-note case when he was in the TDP. And even now, Revanth Reddy is working to strengthen the BJP in Telangana while his leader Rahul Gandhi is undertaking a padayatra to strengthen the Congress," Sudhir Reddy said.