Telangana Congress has drawn criticism for appointing BRS turncoat MLA Gandhi as the chairperson of PAC, defying tradition of decades to appoint an Opposition party member to the post. The move comes following the HC's order on disqualifying MLAs.
Published Sep 09, 2024 | 10:07 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 09, 2024 | 10:07 PM
Telangana turncoat MLA Gandhi and Telangana CM Revanth Reddy
In a move that has already started drawing criticism, BRS turncoat and Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi has been appointed chairperson of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, 9 September.
Gandhi is one of the 10 BRS legislators who defected from the Pink Party after the Assembly elections to join the Congress. While there is no rule against giving the PAC chairperson post to a person based on which party they are aligned with, it has been a long-standing common courtesy.
He represents BRS, technically speaking, as he has not been disqualified yet, but he is part of the Congress for all practical purposes. This way, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy has retained the PAC Chairperson’s post within the party while pretending to have offered the post to someone from the Opposition.
The development came hours after the Telangana High Court issued directions to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to decide on the disqualification of three BRS MLAs who joined the Congress – Danam Nagender, Tellam Venkat Rao and Kadiyam Srihari – within four weeks. The remaining seven BRS MLAs joined the Congress after the petition against the three legislators, was filed in the High Court.
Gandhi’s appointment to the post is seen by spectators as an expression of the Congress’ intention to protect the turncoat MLAs in whichever way is possible, in the wake of the High Court’s directions even as it is looking for ways to get out of the mess caused due to the court order.
After the appointment of Gandhi as the PAC chairperson, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said that the Congress has taken the decision shamelessly on the very day the apex court set the four-week deadline to the Speaker to take a decision on disqualification petitions pending before him.
KT Rama Rao asked: “What kind of culture is this to bestow a position reserved for the Opposition party to an MLA who defected to the Congress?”
He wondered if the Congress had forgotten that its general secretary KC Venugopal has been appointed PAC of the Parliament. “How come the Congress takes one stance at Delhi and entirely different one in Telangana?” he asked.
BRS party, said in a press release that, in accordance with Rule 250 of the Procedure of Conduct of Business, the members of the PAC should be elected through the principle of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. All the nine members of the committee should be elected from among the members of the Assembly.
The party said that when the PAC was constituted, the BRS had 38 members which means that in the committee, there should be three BRS MLAs. These three MLAS have to be elected by the 38 BRS members, which means that each of the three MLAs have to be elected by 13 legislators. “Who are the 13 MLAs who elected Gandhi to the position of the chairman of the PAC?” asked the party.
BRS added that traditionally, the post of the chairperson of the PAC has always went to the Opposition since 1958-59. This has been made very clear in the Telangana Legislative Assembly Handbook for members, said BRS citing page 65.
The Speaker also appointed chairpersons to two other committees. Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s wife Nallamada Padmavathi Reddy will head the Committee on Estimates while K Shankaraiah will lead the Committee on Public Undertakings.
(Edited by Neena)
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