Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress on Monday announced that it is boycotting the MLC elections scheduled for March 12.
The Congress is likely to be defeated in the election as four of its MLAs have defected to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
At a press conference on Monday, Telangana Pradesh Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Leader of the Opposition, M. Bhatti Vikramarka, alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had encouraged the recent defections.
They said that the Congress has decided to boycott the polling to protest the undemocratic and ugly politics of the TRS president.
Mr Reddy further said that to create a healthy democratic environment, the Congress supported the TRS to unanimously elect the Assembly Speaker and Deputy Speaker, but the TRS chief is poaching Congress legislators.
He said that as per the MLAs’ strength in the Assembly, the TRS could get four MLC seats, but the Chief Minister fielded a fifth candidate from his ally, the MIM, and lured away Congress MLAs.
Sabitha will remain in Cong: Uttam Kumar Reddy
Replying to a question about former minister Sabitha Indra Reddy joining the TRS, Telangana Pradesh Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy said these are only rumours and she will remain with the Congress.
Referring to the parliamentary elections, the TPCC president said that these elections are between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and people will decide whether Mr Modi, who has betrayed the people of the country, or Mr Gandhi, whose family has made sacrifices for this nation, is worth backing.
He said that though the TRS had 14 MPs in the 16th Lok Sabha, and the MIM and BJP also sailed with the TRS, the TRS had failed to get the Kazipet Railway Coach Factory, the Bayyaram Steel Factory, Tribal University and ITIR established in the state and even this time, if the TRS wins 16 seats it will not do anything.
If the Congress comes to power, it will resolve all these issues within the first year, he said.
Mr Vikramarka said his party will take legal recourse against the undemocratic practices of Mr Rao and will unite all political parties in the country against him for encouraging defections.
He felt that there should be a national level debate about the undemocratic practices of the TRS chief and also on the anti-defection law.
It may be recalled that the Congress has nominated TPCC treasurer G Narayana Reddy for the MLC elections, as it had 19 MLAs and also its ally, the Telugu Desam, had two MLAs. But after the nomination of the Congress candidate, four Congress MLAs and one TD MLA announced they were quitting their respective parties. With this development, the Congress’ strength in the House has come down to 15 members, and with those numbers, it will be impossible for the Congress nominee to win.
