The defection of MLAs from BRS to Congress has once again turned into a serious issue in Telangana as Court gave verdict which potentially puts Congress in a spot. To top it, the strategy of electing Arikepudi Gandhi, who defected from BRS to Congress, as PAC chief has led to a debate in Telangana political circles.
While it is still premature to think that the defected MLAs will be disqualified and Telangana will witness bye elections, one thing which is clear is, Congress has lost moral high ground.
To start with, there is absolutely no ambiguity either Constitutionally or morally that defections are ill practices in a democracy and no responsibile party or leader supports them.
Former CM KCR had brazenly encouraged defections from then Opposition Congress party to ruling BRS during his rule. And, KCR had certainly paid a heavy price for his misdeeds. In fact leaders who came from other parties like Danam Nagendar, Keshava Rao, Patnam Mahendar Reddy, Arikepudi Gandhi and others were the first to desert KCR in difficult times.
Though people might not express their disapproval over defections immediately, they will show it whenever they get an opportunity. Most of the MLAs who had defected during KCR regime got defeated in 2023 Assembly elections. This clearly is a sign, that people are not dumb and silently bear all the undemocratic and power hungry actions of political parties.
If we observe the same issue of defections from Congress perspective, grand old party leaders are aware how much they got troubled due to the defections encouraged by KCR. Even Bhatti Vikramarka’s Leader of Opposition post was stripped off by autocratic KCR. Congress had waged a battle against KCR then and raised voice in all the available forums crying foul.
Now, after coming to power if the same Congress Government led by CM Revanth Reddy encourages defections, how fair is it? One can cleverly term it is giving it back to KCR. But there are also people involved here, who have voted for a certain MLA for a particular reason, and shifting loyalties, amounts to betraying people’s mandate.
By backing defections, Revanth Reddy-led Congress Government is facing criticism from some quarters that it is following the same path laid by KCR, and appears no better or fairer. This is a subtle observation but a serious one which can damage party’s public perception in the long run.
In fact BRS leaders, instead of attacking CM Revanth Reddy are directly bringing in Rahul Gandhi into the matter. They are questioning, “Rahul Gandhi roams with Constitution in his hands. How can Rahul claim that he respects Constitution, when his Congress Government in Telangana openly encourages defections?” This is certianly a question which Congress party cannot skip, when it is trying to regain power in Centre in 2024 under Rahul Gandhi’s lesdership, by promising positive politics of inclusion and brotherhood.
Already the damage has been done to Congress image in Telangana by encouraging defections. Especially the main support groups which helped Congress come back to power like youth, students and intellectuals are not endorsing Revanth Sarkar’s strategy on defections. It is time a course correction is done by CM Revanth Reddy to prove that he is not just another KCR and Congress Government is no different from BRS Sarkar.
Dnr
