Congress lodges plaints against seven MLAs

​Hyderabad: The Congress on Friday lodged complaints with the Returning Officer of Rajya Sabha polls in the State, Election Commission of India and Chief Electoral Officer on the defiance of the whip being issued by the party to seven MLAs and demanded not to take their votes into consideration.

The party demanded disqualification of these MLAs who violated the whip and voted in favour of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidates in the elections for three Rajya Sabha seats.

Speaking to media persons on the Assembly premises, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the seven MLAs - Kale Yadaiah, Redya Naik, Bhaskar Rao, Ch Rammohan Reddy, Koram Kanakaiah, Vithal Reddy and Ajay Kumar - who were elected on Congress tickets in 2014 elections, voted in favour of the TRS candidates in violation of the whip issued by the Congress Legislature Party which directed them to vote for party's official candidate P Balram Naik. Therefore, he said all seven MLAs were liable to be disqualified immediately. He said the defected MLAs had shown their voting slip to the Congress polling agent and former MLA R Kantha Rao.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said Kantha Rao had immediately lodged a written complaint with Returning Officer and Legislature Secretary V Narasimha Charyulu asking him to reject those seven votes and take action against them for violating party whip. He said the Returning Officer first refused to accept the complaint. Later, he apparently spoke to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao or Speaker S Madhusudan Chary and accepted the complaint. However, he said that the Returning Officer did not give acknowledgement for the complaint lodged by the Congress.

The TPCC chief accused Chandrashekar Rao of indulging in cheap politics. He said the TRS had no strength in the Assembly to field a third candidate. He said the TRS had only 63 MLAs while each candidate was required to get at least 30 votes and therefore, it needed 90 MLAs. Although the TRS deserved to win only two seats, Chandrashekar Rao had lured the legislators of other parties to get their support for the third seat.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress had fielded Balram Naik, an ST candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections as Tribals from Telangana had no representation in the Upper House. He said to ensure the victory of a Girijan candidate, CLP leader Jana Reddy had issued a three-line whip asking all party MLAs to vote in favour of party's official candidate. 

He said the whip was directly delivered to all MLAs and it was also pasted at the residences of MLAs who defected to the TRS. Citing a judgment of the Supreme Court, he said the election of a candidate as Rajya Sabha member got null and void if he or she got votes in violation of party whips. He said Jana Reddy had also submitted a representation with the Speaker seeking disqualification of defected MLAs. Deputy CLP leader T Jeevan Reddy, Whip Rammohan Reddy, MLA Revanth Reddy, Balram Naik and other leaders were also present.