Hyderabad, Jun 24 (PTI) Taking exception to some BRS MLAs joining the Congress in Telangana, opposition BRS leader K T Rama Rao on Monday said his party had seen similar defections in the past when the ruling party was in power and that it had to eventually “bow down”.
Responding to BRS MLA from Jagtial, Sanjay Kumar, switching loyalties to Congress on Sunday, Rama Rao said the power of people is always stronger than the people in power.
“We have faced several defections of MLAs in the past in 2004-06 when Congress was in government. Telangana responded strongly by stepping up the people’s agitation & eventually Congress had to bow its head. History shall repeat itself,” Rama Rao said on ‘X’.
Sanjay Kumar joining the Congress was a fresh setback to the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) as he is the fifth BRS MLA to switch over to the Congress.
Kumar’s defection came close on the heels of senior BRS MLA and former Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy joining Congress on June 21.
Earlier, BRS MLAs Kadiam Srihari, Danam Nagender and Tellam Venkat Rao joined the ruling party.
There have been speculations that more BRS MLAs would join the Congress in the days to come.
According to BRS sources, the party would knock at the doors of the Supreme Court against the MLAs who joined the Congress.
Noting that the Assembly Speaker has to take a call in three months on the disqualification plea against an MLA, the sources said BRS leaders have consulted the legal experts on moving the apex court as Danam Nagender had joined Congress three months ago.
BRS workers held protests at the residence of Sanjay Kumar in Jagtial against his decision to join the Congress.
However, senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir attacked BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, saying it was the latter who initiated the culture of defections in Telangana.
Shabbir Ali alleged that over the past decade, Rao orchestrated the defection of 59 elected representatives.
Accusing Rao of “systematically undermining democracy in Telangana by decimating the opposition”, Shabbir Ali alleged that between March 2 and June 6, 2020, he engineered the defection of 12 Congress MLAs.
Meanwhile, the Jagtial MLA (Sanjay Kumar) joining Congress did not go down well with senior party leader Jeevan Reddy who had served as minister and MLA in the past.
Jeevan Reddy, a sitting MLC, lost to Sanjay Kumar in the last two assembly elections from Jagtial.
State IT Minister D Sridhar Babu met Jeevan Reddy at his residence in a bid to address the grievances of Reddy and his supporters.
Sridhar Babu said the sentiments of Congress activists with regard to Jeevan Reddy would be brought to the notice of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, AICC Telangana incharge Deepa Dasmunsi, senior leader K C Venugopal and even party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
BRS had won 39 of the total 119 Assembly seats in the elections held last year, while Congress came to power with 64 seats.
However, BRS MLA from Secunderabad Cantonment G Lasya Nanditha died in a road accident earlier this year.
Congress won the recently held bypoll for Secunderabad Cantonment segment. This led to an increase in its strength to 65. PTI SJR SJR ROH
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