Changing Trends of Lawmakers: Of Telangana MLAs & their swanky cars

Hyderabad: Just like the film celebrities and corporate bigwigs who use elegant cars, the newly elected lawmakers (both ministers and MLAs) were smitten by swanky cars. Buying costly cars by the legislators from all political parties was a new trend. Earlier Toyota Fortuner cars were the status symbol for the MLAs. Now, the MLAs were purchasing imported cars such as Defender, Range Rover, Lexus, Benz, Volvo, etc, costing anywhere between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore.

From the first day of the session of the third Assembly started last week, most of the MLAs drove in the new cars. Toyota Fortuner was the official vehicle for the majority of the legislators and also ministers. More than 70 MLAs were using the high-end Fortuner which costs around Rs 60 lakh to Rs 70 lakh. These cars were fitted with the latest technology, which includes safety checks during the high-speed travel and the use of mobiles in a hack-free mode. In the last Assembly, the use of Innova cars was more by the sitting MLAs.

While Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was already using his own Land Cruiser and another Cruiser which costs around Rs 1.50 crore in his vehicle convoy, the BJP, BRS and Congress MLAs and ministers also bought costly cars. Former BRS minister T Srinivas Yadav was using Defender and Gangula Kamalakar bought a new Lexus car.

Congress MLA from Medak M Rohit’s car - ‘GMC’ was the cynosure of all eyes on the Assembly premises. Visitors were seen vying with each other to take selfies with the costly car and also the young MLA Rohit. The imported car costs around Rs 3 crore which includes import duty. The newly-elected BJP MLA from Armoor, P Rakesh Reddy, was using the new updated version Benz Formatic car. First time Congress MLA from Jadcharla Anirudh Reddy was also using the Benz car.

A few MLAs from the BRs and Congress were coming in Audi, Volvo and BMW cars to attend the Assembly session. AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi was already using Benz company’s sports vehicle. R and B Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Excise and Prohibition Minister Jupally Krishna Rao were also using Benz cars.

The display of costly cars by the MLAs in the first session of the Assembly session in the newly-elected Congress government was eye-catching. Leaders said the elected representatives seemed more interested in showing their status symbol by using the costly cars. The growing trend of using luxury cars by the lawmakers was a sign of their changing lifestyles and adopting luxury life like film celebrities and corporate honchos.