Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Member of Parliament from Nalgonda N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday alleged that ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi brought pressure on Nereducherla Municipal Commissioner to remove a Congress vote, crucial in deciding victory in the hung municipality.
“KVP Ramachandra Rao’s eligibility as ex-officio voter, a Rajya Sabha member representing Telangana, was accepted and he was invited for voting. But TRS Minister Jagadish Reddy brought pressure and forced the Commissioner to remove the vote,” he alleged.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy’s protest against removing Mr. Ramachandra Rao’s option started outside the District Collector’s residence late night on Sunday, and continued outside the Nereducerla Municipal Office till the State Election Commission (SEC) intervened on Monday morning.
Telangana MP
The Nalgonda MP who spoke with media, disclosing the Rajya Sabha member’s documents, said Mr. Ramachandra Rao was still representing Telangana with nodal district as Hyderabad for MPLADS and other protocol.
“The Rajya Sabha website says it, his Parliament ID card says it; the Commissioner had accepted, and later on January 26 he sent a notice rejecting his option. This clearly is the index of TRS’ faith in democracy,” the Congress leader said.
Intervening just before the election at 11 a.m. on Monday, the SEC suspended the decision of Nereducherla Commissioner in rejecting the option of Mr. Ramachandra Rao.
“The plenary powers of Superintendence and control of elections to ULBs are vested in the SEC. The Commissioner’s action appears without any jurisdiction, legal basis and taken in haste,” it noted, with instructions that the election could be held at 4 p.m. the same day, or the next day.
TRS protest
Elected TRS ward members along with ex-officio members MP Badugula Lingaiah Yadav, MLC Bodakanti Venkateswarlu and MLA Shanampudi Saidi Reddy, following the information, boycotted the process.
Responding to the situation, Energy Minister and Suryapet MLA G. Jagadish Reddy said the Gazette declaring the swapping of MPs between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014 was evidence.
“Congress, which is under political depression due to repeat failures, bringing someone from AP shows their unfortunate situation. I also doubt Uttam Kumar Reddy’s mental stability,” he commented.
