The Supreme Court rejected BRS-turned-Congress MLA Danam Nagender's plea against disqualification. Congress MP Chamala Reddy hit back at BRS and BJP, accusing them of 'selective outrage' on defections while pointing to their own track records.

Congress Mounts Counter-Offensive

Following the Supreme Court's rejection of Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender's petition regarding disqualification proceedings, Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy mounted a fierce counter-offensive against the BRS and BJP, accusing both opposition parties of selective outrage after having engineered wholesale defections themselves across states. Nagender, who won the Khairatabad Assembly seat on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket in late 2023, subsequently defected to the Congress and contested the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket without resigning from his legislative assembly membership, triggering petitions under the anti-defection law.

Reacting to the development, Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy stated that while the party respects the judiciary, it maintains grievances regarding the selective targeting of defections, while pointing fingers at the BJP's practices nationally. "We respect the courts and whatever decision the court has taken. But definitely, we have a grievance. Had these decisions come to this independent India long ago, democracy would have been safeguarded—especially against the BJP and BRS. People have to understand what today's judgments and consequences mean. We have clearly seen recently how the BJP poached Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament from the Aam Aadmi Party. We have also seen just a few months back how the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal attempted to derail the system and take over parties, taking 20 MPs elected on other tickets," Reddy told ANI.

Expressing confidence about the ruling party's electoral strength on the ground, Reddy asserted that the Congress would retain the constituency if by-elections were necessitated. "Courts intervening and attempting to halt such practices is welcome. At the same time, in Telangana, we are not afraid of any by-elections. If a by-election takes place in Khairatabad, the outcome will be no different from Secunderabad Cantonment or Jubilee Hills… If any by-elections take place, the people of the state remain fully satisfied with Congress governance. Barking dogs will soon understand what the people's mandate truly is," the Congress leader remarked, taking a swipe at BRS working president KT Rama Rao.

Senior Leader Adopts Cautious Approach

However, senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao adopted a cautious approach, stating that the subsequent legal and political course of action rests with the legislator himself. "Look, regarding Danam Nagender... he has to decide what he wants to do next. How can I say? It is his personal matter. I do not know what he will do. We all respect the court. You should ask him directly what he intends to do," Rao told ANI.

BJP Hails SC Ruling as 'Win for Democracy'

Meanwhile, welcoming the apex court's ruling, BJP Telangana General Secretary Tulla Veerender Goud called the rejection a blow to the culture of political defections in the state. "Danam Nagender ji's petition being rejected in the Supreme Court is not just a moral win; it is a win for democracy. It is not the win of just the Bharatiya Janata Party, or any single person... It is a win of democracy because Danam Nagender won as an MLA from the BRS party, and then he defected to the Congress party to contest as an MP from the Congress party. Even after that, he had the nerve to claim that disqualification did not apply to him," Goud told ANI.

He further said, “This basically shows the disregard he has for democratic institutions. The people of Khairatabad elected him, whatever their reasons may have been, but instead of resigning and seeking a fresh mandate from them, he repeatedly asserted that he was not going to resign. And it is not just him—there are 10, 11, or 12 MLAs, because we don't even have an accurate count anymore. We do not know who is sitting on the treasury benches or who is sitting on the opposition benches, because we don't know who has shifted from Congress to BRS or BRS to Congress, and none of them resigned. It is very unfortunate. This is a tradition started by KCR ji, and now Revanth Reddy ji is continuing it.”

Speaker's Inaction Criticised

Criticising the state administration and the Assembly Speaker, the BJP leader added, "This decision should have been made right inside the Assembly by the Speaker. Unfortunately, the Speaker’s inaction clearly showed bias, compelling them to approach the High Court and ultimately the Supreme Court."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)