Resigning from the assembly before entering the Lok Sabha elections, was the pre-condition for BRS MLA Nagender to receive the Congress ticket from Secunderabad.
Danam Nagender with CM Revanth Reddy (X)
The AICC is understood to be very keen that Khairatabad BRS MLA Danam Nagender, who was allotted Congress ticket to contest from Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat, should resign from the membership of the assembly before entering the Lok Sabha election fray.
According to the sources, it was the pre-condition for him to receive the ticket to contest from Secunderabad.
With Nagender not submitting his resignation so far, there is suspense over whether party would look for another candidate for Secunderabad or would let him continue as BRS MLA until the elections are over.
When this question was posed to him by reporters at a press conference a few days ago, Nagender said that he would surely resign and that there would be a by-election for the Khairatabad seat after his victory in the Lok Sabha poll for Secunderabad.
He, however, did not commit himself to resigning before filing his nomination papers for Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat on behalf of the Congress.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who was behind Nagender’s exit from BRS, is understood to have given an assurance to the party leadership that Nagender would resign before contesting on Congress ticket for Secunderabad Lok Sabah seat.
Nagender too initially agreed to the condition but after the allotment of ticket he seems to have changed his mind. “I am going to resign all right but it would be after winning Secunderabad Parliamentary seat, “he told the reporters.
The AICC wanted Nagender to resign before contesting for Lok Sabha, as if it allows him to contest without resigning, it would have no argument against the BJP that it has mastered the game of engineering defections.
In fact, the Congress wants to use BJP’s penchant to trigger defections as its poll weapon and that is why it is not favourably disposed to allowing Nagender to file his papers even while continuing as BRS MLA.
BRS working president K T Rama Rao also lashed out at Danam Nagender for defecting to Congress without resigning as BRS MLA at party meeting recently.
“It is not proper for anyone to sail in two boats. If he does, he would finally end up as a loser. Nagender cannot contest for Lok Sabha while continuing as BRS MLA. We already have pressed for his disqualification and the speaker has to act on our petition,” he said.
KTR also warned that if the speaker does not act immediately, the BRS would continue to demand his disqualification. “We do not mind even moving the supreme court,” he said.
As Nagender is yet to get off the high horse he is riding, the party is understood to be scouting for an alternative candidate for Secunderabad in case it has to drop him.
Sources said that the party is again considering former Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Ramamohan who joined the Congress in February leaving the BRS. He was BRS mayor of Hyderabad between 2016 and 2021.
He had set his eyes on Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat. When the BRS lost Assembly election, he joined Congress in February, hoping that he would land the ticket.
But disappointment greeted him when the Congress nominated Nagender for the seat. He is now waiting with his fingers crossed for luck to favour him in the wake of changing electoral dynamics in the constituency.
In a related development a voter of Khairatabad constituency Bollaboina Raju Yadav moved the Telangana High Court seeking a direction to the speaker to disqualify Nagender for deciding to contest for the Lok Sabha elections on Congress ticket.
He apprised the court that he had already submitted a petition to the speaker for Nagender’s disqualification. But the court had declined to entertain the petition, questioning the locus standi of the petitioner.
Justice B Viayasen Reddy of the High Court had said it would be appropriate if the BRS approached as Nagender won the election as its candidate form Khairatabad.
Further, he said it can not give a direction to the speaker to act on a disqualification petition. The judge asked petitioner’s counsel if there was any judgment that a voter in a constituency could move disqualification petition against an MLA.
The party is facing the same problem with Kadiyam Srihari and his daughter. Srihari, who won Assembly election on BRS ticket from Station Ghanpur is all set to join the Congress along with his daughter Kavya, who might be nominated as Congress candidate for Warangal.
But Kadiyam Srihari too has to resign from the assembly as the party would have the problem similar to Nagender’s.
If Srihari resigns, there would be a by-election to Station Ghanpur Assembly seat. The Congress is understood to be asking him to resign before considering the father and daughter for either the Station Ghanpur Assembly seat by-election or the Warangal Lok Sabha seat.
Srihari is yet to make a statement on whether he would be resigning from the BRS or not.
(Edited by Shauqueen Mizaj)
May 02, 2024
May 02, 2024
May 02, 2024
May 02, 2024
May 02, 2024
May 02, 2024
