As TRS sits pretty, Rajya Sabha poll to be a mere formality

HYDERABAD: With the ruling TRS sitting pretty with the support of MIM, and two opposition parties TDP and BJP making it clear that they would abstain from voting, the election to fill the three Rajya Sabha seats from Telangana on March 23 election is likely to be just a formality. The Congress is the only other party in the contest while the CPM, which has just one MLA, is yet to yet to announce its stand.

The Congress, which put up its candidate even though it does not have even the slightest chance to win, received a  jolt recently with the expulsion of two of its member from the Assembly following a ruckus in the House during the Governor’s address to the joint session of Assembly and Council. On Wednesday, a delegation of party leaders, including the two expelled members Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar , met the Election Commission of India in New Delhi and submitted a representation seeking inclusion of the two expelled members in the electorate for the Rajya Sabha election.

The delegation contended that the TRS government had acted against the Constitution in expelling the two members from the House. “The two members were removed from the electoral rolls of Rajya Sabha and their names should be reinstated,’’ it said.

With no relief in sight, the Congress is unlikely to give a fight in the election as it is left with only 11 votes while the  TRS has a comfortable majority of 90 of its own votes and seven of MIM. Meanwhile, the TDP and BJP which, together, have seven members in the Assembly have decided to abstain from voting. “We have decided to keep away from the election,’’ BJP Legislature Party leader G Kishan Reddy told Express. TDP’s Telangana unit chief L Ramana said that as the party was maintaining equidistance from the TRS and the Congress, they would not participate in the voting.

Irrespective of their position in the election, the Congress on Wednesday issued a whip to all the members elected on the party ticket, including those MLAs who defected to the TRS, to vote for the Congress candidate.

Cong ridicules TRS’ protest in LS

Ridiculing the protests being staged by TRS members in the Lok Sabha seeking enhancement of total quota of reservation in Telangana, leader of the opposition in the state legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has alleged that the state government had not sent a reply to the Centre “which had sought a clarification on the Bill meant for enhancement of reservation to minorities from 4 per cent to 12 per cent and to STs from 6 per cent to 10 per cent, passed by the state legislature in April 2017.” The Congress leader demanded that the state government reveal the correspondence that took place between the Centre and the state government on the issue.