Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday expressed the view that a strong anti-defection law, without any loopholes, would benefit both the Congress party and his government.
He was responding to the recent High Court judgment granting the state legislative assembly speaker four weeks to decide on the petitions filed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regarding the defection of its MLAs to the Congress.
“We have not yet fully reviewed the court order, so I cannot comment on it. It is for the Speaker and the High Court to decide. Whatever the High Court rules and whatever the Speaker decides, will be implemented,” Revanth said.
The chief minister added that he also supports strengthening the anti-defection law, as it would make his government more secure. With the Congress holding only 65 MLAs in the assembly, a stronger law would prevent any attempts to switch parties.
“It was the BRS that repeatedly claimed it would topple the Congress government in three or six months, hinting at poaching my party's MLAs. That's why we had to allow defections from the BRS to the Congress. If the anti-defection law were stronger, this wouldn’t have happened,” he explained.
Regarding the appointment of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Revanth Reddy pointed out that the post was given to a BRS member.
“As of the last day of the assembly, the BRS had 38 members. If they believed their MLAs had defected to the Congress, why didn’t they object at that time?” he asked.
He also recalled that in 2018, when the Congress had enough strength to be recognized as the Leader of the Opposition, the BRS government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao appointed All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi as PAC chairman.
“How did they manage to do that?” he questioned.
