KCR suspends three MLAs for cross-voting

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Saturday suspended three of its MLAs — Kalvakuntala Vidyasagar Rao (Korutla), Enugu Ravinder Reddy (Yellareddy) and Kaveti Sammaiah (Sirpur Kagaznagar) — for cross-voting in the MLC elections. The trio had allegedly voted for the Congress candidate.

After a marathon politburo meeting at the residence of TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the party decided to “weed out” the “black sheep” to protect the “sanctity and purity of the Telangana movement.”

“It is my bounden duty as the president of the party to protect the movement and keep its sacredness,” the TRS chief told reporters late in the night. “We have decided not to carry forward these black sheep,” he declared.

Earlier in the day, the three MLAs submitted their resignations to him. However, Ravinder Reddy claimed innocence. “It is up to the party to verify who had violated the party whip. I demand serious action against those who had resorted to cross-voting,” Ravinder Reddy said.But the TRS chief was unconvinced. The politburo, after examining technical details and gathering information, concluded that the three MLAs had indeed voted against the party candidate.

The TRS chief said the party had fielded its own candidate in the MLC elections to prove that they were united. “At a time when the entire Telangana is fighting for a separate State, this sort of behaviour is unacceptable,” he said and asserted that in the future too, the party “will not spare anyone, including my family members, who resort to such acts.”

He said he would forward the resignation letters of the MLAs to the Deputy Speaker. However, he offered an olive branch to them saying they could themselves submit their resignations to the Deputy Speaker and continue to be ordinary party workers. “The suspended MLAs should also tender an apology to the people,” he said.

Rao said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was directly involved in “tempting the TRS MLAs.” He urged the Election Commission to amend the People’s Representatives Act to prevent horse-trading in Council elections. “The EC should not remain a mute spectator,” he observed and called for a transparent polling process.