Stating that the disqualification of 25 MLAs who defected to TRS was almost certain, Leader of Opposition in Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Thursday asked Congress cadre to gear up for by- elections in early 2017.
Addressing a press conference at Congress Legislature Party office here, Shabbir Ali hailed the notices served by the Supreme Court to Assembly Speaker S. Madhusudan Chary and 25 MLAs who defected to the ruling TRS from opposition parties. He informed that the Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Joseph Kurian and Justice Shiva Kirthi Singh, had served notices following a petition filed by Congress MLA A. Sampath Kumar questioning inaction by the Speaker on the disqualification petitions filed against the defectors. “Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has made a mockery of Parliamentary democracy. He made a kind of record by engineering 47 defections in 27 months. They include 25 MLAs, 18 MLCs and 4 MPs. He gave a shameful start to a new State by creating a record for repeated violation of Constitution and law,” he said. By not taking any action against MLAs – 12 from TDP, 7 from Congress, 3 from YSRCP, 2 from BSP and 1 from CPI, the Speaker has proved that he was functioning under the influence of the Chief Minister.
The Supreme Court has given three weeks time to the Speaker and defectors to reply to the notices. Congress MP and senior counsel Vivek Tankha is arguing the case in the Supreme Court on behalf of Sampath Kumar.
Shabbir Ali hoped that the Supreme Court would take action against the legislators who defected to TRS. “All of them will soon get disqualified and holding by-elections in those 25 Assembly segments would be inevitable,” he predicted while asking the Congress party’s cadre to prepare for the same.
He said that the Congress party would approach the people seeking their support against the legislators who defected to TRS. “The defectors have not only cheated their parties, but also back-stabbed the people of their constituencies. People have elected them as MLAs with the hope that they would represent and resolve their problems. However, they preferred money, posts and other incentives over people and defected to the ruling party. This is completely against the democratic norms and such people should be never elected to the pious institutions like Assembly, Council or Parliament,” he said.
Shabbir Ali said that the Congress party has put the entire cadre on alert mode in view of possible by-election polls in early 2017. He said that the Congress party was fully geared up to face the by-polls and it would emerge victorious. (NSS)