Resignation seen as part of BJP's gameplan to win a by-election ahead of the Assembly polls and put TRS and Congress on defensive.
Published Aug 04, 2022 | 8:57 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 04, 2022 | 9:08 PM
Rajagopal Reddy, who resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. (Facebook)
Now that Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopala Reddy has resigned from the membership of the Congress, the ball is in the Telangana Assembly Speaker’s court.
The Speaker would have to act as soon as Rajagopal Reddy resigns as a member of the Assembly or when his parent party — the Congress — presses for his disqualification.
Rajagopal Reddy on Thursday, 4 August, dashed off a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi stating that he was quitting the party, bringing down the curtain on the raging controversy that had erupted after his announcement on Tuesday about his intention to quit — both the party and the membership of the Assembly. He is expected to join the BJP soon.
Under the anti-defection law, if a member of the Assembly resigns to the party on whose ticket he had won the election, he would be disqualified. For that to happen, the parent party would have to press for his disqualification with the Speaker or the legislator should resign as an MLA on his own.
It remains to be seen what course Rajagopal Reddy would choose.
Normally, when a sitting MLA switches parties, without resigning to his parent party, the Speaker would take time to ascertain if he had actually switched the party.
He would seek material proof from the MLA’s parent party to disqualify him. This course might take long, as the Speaker has to satisfy himself that there was enough evidence.
In the case of Rajagopal Reddy, he sent an official letter to the party president that he has resigned from the party, which the party would show as evidence to the Speaker to disqualify him.
Or, Rajagopal Reddy himself might resign as a member of the Assembly, in which case there should not be any problem for the Speaker to act even if the Congress does not show the letter of his resignation as proof.
If one does not resign as an MLA even after switching parties, then the parent party usually expels the legislator or suspends him/her, in which case they could remain in the house as unattached members until such time the Speaker gets incontrovertible evidence that they did change party, which might take time.
In his resignation letter to the party president, Rajagopal Reddy said that he was quitting a party of which he was an inseparable part for the last 30 years. “All along, I worked for the interests of the party,” he said.
Rajagopal Reddy, after his announcement that he would soon be quitting, hit out at the way the party was being run in the state.
He came down heavily on those who brought the party to a level where it was not in a position to fight the TRS, implying that under TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy the Congress has weakened.
Rajagopal Reddy has been at loggerheads with Revanth Reddy ever since the latter joined the Congress from the TDP and was soon given the reins. He and his MP brother Komatireddy Venkat Reddy have been bitter critics of Revanth Reddy ever since.
In his resignation letter, Rajagopal Reddy said that he was quitting as he was not in a position to work in the party which was headed by a person who had gone to jail for committing a crime that no people’s representative should.
This was a not-so-oblique reference to Revanth Reddy’s involvement in cash for vote scam in 2015 when he was caught red-handed while he was offering ₹50 lakh to nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson in return for voting in favour of a TDP candidate in the MLC elections.
Rajagopal Reddy said he has decided to wage a battle with the TRS and free Telangana from the shackles of KCR and his family. Telangana state had been formed after several youths had fought for it, and the struggle dated back to the 1960s, he added.
He said he had decided to leave the party because it had become a haven for some people to run the show as they pleased, not bothering to strengthen the party nor having any insight into how they should help the party win elections or protect those who had won against all odds.
In his recent interactions with the media, Rajagopal Reddy has had a common refrain. He has maintained that only the BJP was strong enough in Telangana to take KCR on.
It is widely believed in political circles that the BJP has encouraged Rajagopal Reddy’s defection so as to ensure a by-election ahead of the Assembly elections next year.
The BJP believes it will be on a good wicket in Munugode — a Congress bastion where it has no significant presence — with Rajagopal Reddy as its candidate.
The MLA has a strong following in the constituency and could, with the BJP’s efficient election machinery, sweep aside his former party and beat back any challenge from the TRS.
A victory in Munugode ahead of the state elections next year could provide the party with some momentum, even as it demoralises both the Congress and the TRS.
