HC verdict a victory of democracy: Congress

The Telangana Congress has welcomed the High Court judgment quashing the expulsion of two party MLAs K. Venkat Reddy and S.A. Sampath Kumar from primary membership of the Assembly.

CLP leader K. Jana Reddy described the High Court’s verdict as victory of democracy and an “eye opener” to the governments across the country. The judgment made clear that the Governor’s address to the joint session would not come under the purview of the Speaker and it had reiterated that the ruling party/government should initiate extreme action within the permissible guidelines.

Though the Opposition parties had been insisting on the ruling party and the government to abide by the Constitutional norms, the government was stifling the voices raised against its policies. This could be illustrated from the denial of permission to the public meeting planned by TJAC chairman M. Kodandaram, the veteran leader said, adding that the government should at least now mend its ways or else people were ready to teach a fitting lesson to it.

Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Mohd. Ali Shabbir demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Speaker S. Madhusudana Chari should resign from their posts after the verdict if they believed in political ethics. The court had held that disqualifying the two Congress MLAs was illegal and in violation of the spirit of the Constitution and was also against the business rule of the Legislature.

He alleged that the Chief Minister and the Speaker had put their personal vendetta and agenda above the democratic norms.

He said the Chief Minister ensured disqualification of two Congress MLAs and expulsion of several others to avoid criticism on the government’s financial mismanagement which was revealed by the CAG report and for ensuring that the corrupt acts of his MLAs and family members did not come to light.