HYDERABAD: TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday said the 12 Congress MLAs that had joined his party had done so in keeping with provisions of the Constitution of India. The merger of Congress MLAs with the TRS is Constitutionally valid, he claimed.
Speaking to reporters at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao said Congress leaders should themselves check if the merger is valid or not. “If they think it is unconstitutional, they have several platforms to raise their issues,” he said.
Rama Rao criticised the Congress party for the ‘Save Democracy Deeksha’ it had organised on Saturday at Dharna Chowk in the city. “Congress speaking of democracy is akin to the devil preaching the gospel,” he said.
He recalled how Congress had, in 2004, lured 10 of TRS’ 26 MLAs to its side. “Ten MLAs were not two-thirds of our strength, but nonetheless Congress had acted in a tyrannical manner,” he said.Rama Rao also spoke of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. “When TDP lured 26 YSR Congress Party MLAs, the Congress did not utter a word in protest. Why did Congress not speak of these democratic values then?” he asked.
“When compared to those instances, we have behaved in a decent manner. The merger of the Congress MLAs is as per the provisions of the Constitution. The Speaker, in his bulletin, stated that two-thirds of the MLAs have merged with the TRS,” Rama Rao said.
He accused Congress of double standards. “When Congress leaders encourage defections in other parties for itself, they think they are correct. It is Congress that started the ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ culture,” he said. He asked the Congress leaders that if TRS MLAs wanted to join their party, would they still say ‘democracy is in danger’? He recalled that the people are on TRS’ side, and a series of elections have proved the same.
On the ZP chairperson elections, Rama Rao said that for the TRS, social justice was the topmost priority whilst selecting ZP chairpersons. “We have given 50 per-cent of the posts to ZPTC members belong to weaker sections of the society,” he said. On Saturday, TRS won all 32 ZP chairman seats in the State.