Harish Rao Slams Chief Whip Appointment, Minister Gives It Back

BRS leader, Siddipet MLA and former minister T Harish Rao today objected to the appointment of rebel BRS MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy as Chief Whip of the State Legislative Council, and termed it as unconstitutional.

He asked the State government to specify which party Reddy belonged to.

Speaking in an informal interaction with the media, Rao asked how Reddy, who technically belonged to the BRS, was given the post of the Chief Whip.

He said that a disqualification petition was already pending with the Legislative Council Chairman against Reddy, and that the bulletin issued appointing Reddy as the Chief Whip of the Council had further strengthened the disqualification petition. He said that the latest issue too would be included as evidence in the disqualification petition.

He also alleged that the State government was also misleading the Governor on the issue, and that he would write to the Governor.

Rao said that the appointment of Mahender Reddy as Chief Whip was an example of how the Constitution was being violated under the Congress rule. He criticized the Congress government for acting in the same way in the case of the appointment of the PAC Chairman, too.

Responding to Rao's allegations, State Legislative Affairs Minister Sridhar Babu claimed that all the appointments in the Telangana Legislative Council including that of the Chief Whip were made as per the Constitution of India.

Speaking to media persons, Sridhar Babu said that there were no violations anywhere, and that Harish Rao was trying to politicize every issue.

"Everyone knows what happened when Harish Rao was the Legislative Affairs Minister during KCR's regime. 12 MLAs belonging to the Congress were inducted into the then ruling BRS one after the other. Did they not remember the Constitution then?" he asked in a counter-attack.

He said that only after considering all aspects would the Chairman of the Council take decisions. The post of the PAC Chairman too was given to a member of the opposition as per tradition, the minister claimed (this "member of the opposition" had previously defected to the Congress). And the issue of disqualification petitions was within the purview of the courts, he said.