TPCC head and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today demanded that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao immediately "disqualify" four TRS MLAs from the state's Assembly for their alleged involvement in a drug use scandal.
Addressing the media along with official AICC Spokesperson Dasoju Sravan and Telangana Fishermen Congress Chairman Mettu Sai, Reddy claimed that the Bangalore police had recorded the statement of a prominent businessman who had claimed that four TRS MLAs were involved in the aforementioned drug scandal.
"As per the information that I have gathered pertaining to drug use at a high-profile party held in Bangalore, four MLAs of the TRS too were involved in the matter. Sources in Bangalore have confirmed this," he said.
The TPCC head alleged that the TRS had "colluded" with the leaders of the BJP to hush up the whole matter, and added, "If the BJP is not in cahoots with the TRS, why then has it not been pressuring the Karnataka government to take action against the four MLAs? The use of narcotic substances is not a small matter, and is definitely grounds for disqualification from the Assembly. Since the ruling party refuses to do anything to punish the four offending MLAs, our party has decided that we will submit a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on the issue."
"In the past, two MLAs of the Congress were expelled from the Assembly for no rhyme or reason. Now, however, the TRS MLAs who have disgraced the state with their reckless behaviour are not being punished. I wonder why the CM has not taken any action against them. His inaction is condemnable. But, this is not the first time something like this has happened - even when Labour Minister Malla Reddy was caught on tape seeking bribes, the CM did not remove the minister from his post. It seems like the TRS has gotten into the habit of humiliating Telangana through such corrupt behaviour. Another instance of such inappropriate behaviour was when our CM decided to liken the women of Nalgonda to dogs for trying to bring up the problems of podu landowners," he charged.
Turning to the voters of Nagarjuna Sagar, Reddy appealed to them to see how the reign of the TRS was unjust and corrupt, and urged them not to vote for the party's candidate in the upcoming by-election in the constituency.
"The BJP and the TRS have come together and hatched a conspiracy to defeat our candidate, K Jana Reddy, in the Nagarjuna Sagar by-election. The BJP has knowingly fielded a weak candidate to help the TRS win the seat. Even after this, the pink party has been distributing cash and alcohol to buy votes, and the Chief Electoral Officer in the state has done little to stop this. We will meet the Chief Election Commissioner of India on April 10 and will lodge a complaint against these malpractices," he warned.
"Further, the TRS government has usurped the resources of the state and is getting rich off them. KCR has even colluded with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, and is allowing the latter to divert the waters of the Krishna to AP. KCR did not utter a single word while the AP government raised the level of the Pothireddypadu reservoir or when the Srisailam reservoir was being built. This silence looks intentional - after all, if the Krishna runs dry, the CM will take the chance to divert the waters of the Godavari to Nagarjuna Sagar. This will allow him to sanction more lift irrigation schemes, and will give the ruling party another chance to pocket hefty commissions," the leader charged.
While there is not much speculation regarding the fate of the four MLAs allegedly involved in the drug scandal, rumours are rife that Malla Reddy will indeed be
dropped from the Cabinet after the Nagarjuna Sagar election as he is often mired in audio leak incidents that leave the TRS rather red-faced.