BRS leaders fire protocol breach salvo at Cong govt

Hyderabad: BRS leaders are upset with the Congress government alleging that protocol was not being followed by the government and the Congress leaders in the constituencies were doing all the honours in the presence of Ministers in the official programmes. The party leaders have threatened the officials of consequences after the BRS comes into power.

BRS MLA from Huzurabad Padi Kaushik Reddy raised the protocol issue, stating that it was not proper to prevent the MLAs from distributing cheques in the Assembly constituencies where the BRS has won. He said that an MLA has full authority to distribute cheques as per GO No. (18) 2016. He alleged that Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has warned the officials not to take up the distribution. Kaushik Reddy questioned why the 381 cheques that came to Huzurabad were not allowed to be distributed. He warned that he will go to any length for the people of Huzurabad and would not be a spectator if problems arise for the beneficiaries.

Kaushik Reddy said that starting from the collector to the lower level officials, if they do not follow the rules, they will have to face

difficulties. He said that they have prepared a black book in relation to the officials who violated the rules, and these officials will have to face trouble when the BRS comes to power. He asked them to observe what happened to the officers who had listened to the Ministers’ words regarding the distribution of cheques in the past.

Party leaders said that this was not limited to a single constituency, and that there were similar issues in other constituencies. During a ‘Badi Bata’ programme in Kolcharam in Medak, there was a hue and cry over protocol not being followed and this led to arguments between the BRS and Congress supporters. The MLA Sunita Lakshma Reddy said that people who should not be given protocol were sitting on the dais, which angered the Congress supporters. In the melee, Minister Konda Surekha and the MLA Sunita Reddy gave away cheques to the beneficiaries quickly and left the place. The Minister told the MLA that she would talk on the issue later when Sunita Reddy questioned the presence of Congress in-charge Raji Reddy.

The BRS leaders have threatened to file a petition in the High Court against the concerned officials for violation of protocol. The MLA also showed the audio of the minister threatening the officials regarding the distribution of cheques.