PAC Meet Ends in Chaos, BRS MLAs Walk Out

Hyderabad: The inaugural meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Telangana Legislature ended in chaos on Saturday as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs staged a walkout in protest against the appointment of Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi as the committee’s chairman.

Earlier the BRS members accused Speaker Gaddam Prasad of partisan conduct and claimed that the Legislative Affairs minister D. Sridhar Babu was speaking on behalf of Prasad. This led to heated arguments between Sridhar Babu and the BRS MLAs.

The BRS leaders alleged that the appointment of Gandhi, who they claim defected to the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, was illegal and demanded his disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Vemula Prashanth Reddy, senior BRS legislator, expressed disgust that the party’s plea about the number of nominations received for the PAC chairmanship went unheeded.

"We were asked to send five names and Gandhi’s name was not among them," he said, adding that their nominated candidate, T. Harish Rao, was overlooked without explanation.

He pointed out that PAC plays a vital role in democracy as it monitors government expenditure. Lack of transparency in the selection process has raised concerns about fair governance, he said.

The walkout was met with strong counter-arguments from Congress MLAs, who dismissed the allegations as internal bickering within the BRS. Congress MLA Yennam Srinivas Reddy claimed that BRS factions were opposed to Gandhi’s appointment because of internal divisions.

“There are four factions within BRS, and it seems that none of them can agree on who should represent them. The speaker appointed Gandhi following tradition, which dictates that the main opposition party, currently the BRS, receives the PAC chairmanship,” Yennam stated.

He further noted that the BRS, while in power, had previously allocated the PAC chairman post to the Congress in 2014, and to AIMIM in 2018, in accordance with the number of MLAs in the opposition benches.

The disruption leaves uncertainty over the future functioning of the PAC, which is essential in ensuring accountability for public expenditure.

"We boycotted the meeting because our questions were left unanswered," Prashanth Reddy said.

The incident underscores rising tensions within BRS as well as between the ruling party and opposition. The controversy is expected to have a ripple effect on Telangana’s political landscape.