Danam’s requisite under cloud as he races for Sec’bad LS seat

Hyderabad: Amidst the raging debate over Congress’s double standards about taking defected MLAs and the manifesto’s talk of strengthening the Anti-Defection Law, the Secunderabad MP candidate Danam Nagender’sposition remains under balance.

As the dates for Parliamentary elections draw closer, the question of which political party the defected MLAs like DanamNagender represent remains a major subject of debate. The former BRS leader who has shift loyalties to Congress remains reluctant to resign from MLA post despite the demand from BRS and gearing up to contest against Padma Rao from BRS and Kishan Reddy from BJP as MP from Secunderabad constituency.

It is feared that he may face ‘technical issues’ at the time of scrutiny. “As the B-form clearly needs to mention and an undertaking should be made of representing ‘single party’ membership and he may face problems. And if the Returning Officer catches hold of the matter, he may also reject his application. Returning officer having quasi-judicial authority, makes the final decision. The issue may land in court; that’s a different story altogether,” explained a senior leader of the party.

Interestingly, about a decade ago, the Congress was among the political parties that questioned the former chief minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, who took Talasani Srinivas Yadav into his cabinet while he represented the TDP as MLA after the formation of Telangana. “Talasani’scase was questioned then. But in Danam’s case, as he is contesting for the MP seat, he has to clearly mention the party, thereby relinquishing the existing position,” pointed out the leader.

The BRS, which won 39 seats in the recently held Assembly elections, has now been reduced to 35, following the joining of Bhadrachalam MLA Tellam Venkat Rao and the death of Secunderabad Cantt MLA LasyaNanditha, necessitating the by-poll.

Following Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s assertion that ‘flood gates’ have been opened for welcoming more BRS leaders and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s claims that some two dozen MLAs were ready to join Congress, political circles are abuzz with the seriousness of the Grant Old Party’s claims of amending the 10th Schedule of the Constitution to make defection an automatic disqualification of membership in the Assembly or Parliament.