Amid the political crisis in Maharashtra following senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde's rebellion, Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday launched a scathing attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said the saffron party has toppled at least eight governments and have forcefully formed their own since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. He added that Telangana will raise its voice against Centre's dictatorship in the coming days.
Speaking to ANI, KTR said, "Since the time Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, his party has toppled at least eight governments and have forcefully formed their own without even having the mandate in place."
"They have trampled upon democracy be it is in the state of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh or Goa. They dislodged the governments which were formed because of the mandate of the people," KTR said.
"The Central government has abused every constitutional authority and position in place and they have been doing what they feel like," the Telangana IT Minister further added.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today granted interim relief to rebel Shiv Seva leader Eknath Shinde and other MLAs to file their reply to disqualification notices issued to them by the Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly by July 12, 5.30 pm.
Earlier, the Deputy Speaker had granted them time to file a reply by today, 5.30 pm.
A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, in its order, said, "As an interim measure, the time granted by the Deputy Speaker, to the petitioners or other similarly placed MLAs to submit their submissions today by 5.30 pm, stands extended till July 12. The petitioners or other MLAs are at liberty to submit their reply without prejudice to their rights in the writ petition."
The top court has now posted the matter for hearing on July 11.
The apex court was hearing the petitions filed by the Shinde group challenging the disqualification notices issued by the Deputy Speaker to 16 rebel MLAs as well as the appointment of Ajay Choudhari as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader.
(With ANI inputs)
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
