Hyderabad: The ongoing fracas between the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana over defections of legislators took an ugly turn this week as a deserter BRS MLA, Arekapudi Gandhi, was appointed as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Congress and BRS workers came to blows at a posh gated community, the residence of Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy of the BRS, in Hyderabad over the matter Thursday, following which Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi was booked by the Cyberabad police while Padi was put under house arrest.
Arekapudi is among the 10 BRS MLAs, who have joined the Congress over the last few months but officially continue to be opposition members. Seven BRS MLCs, too, made the unofficial switch.
Arekapudi had crossed over 13 July, after meeting Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at his residence and donning a Congress scarf.
In a bulletin released Monday, Telangana legislature secretary Narasimha Charyulu announced that Arekapudi had been elected as the PAC chairman.
The BRS cried foul over the appointment, pointing to the long-standing convention of the post being allocated to an opposition party member.
“By appointing a defected MLA, who is now on the ruling side, as PAC chief, the Congress government and the Speaker gave a go-by to parliamentary conventions,” former BRS minister for legislative affairs Prashanth Reddy told reporters Tuesday, while pleading with Speaker Gaddam Prasad to reconsider the PAC’s constitution.
“For the first time, the PAC chairman’s post has been given to an MLA who has defected.”
However, such a contentious appointment is not without precedent in the country. In West Bengal, Mukul Roy, who was elected on a BJP ticket in 2021 and within a month defected to the ruling Trinamool Congress, was made the PAC chairman soon after. This was when the BJP wanted its MLA Ashok Lahiri to lead the panel.
BJP legislator Ambika Roy had reportedly moved the Calcutta High Court challenging Roy’s election in July 2021. However, Roy himself resigned as PAC chief in June 2022, saying that his one-year term was nearing its end.
Later, West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee had turned down the BJP’s plea to disqualify Roy, saying there was no merit in the petition.
War of words, then a scuffle
Arekapudi was appointed the PAC chief on the same day when the Telangana High Court directed the Speaker’s office to schedule the hearing of petitions, including that of Padi, seeking disqualification of the defected BRS MLAs, in four weeks.
Even as BRS leaders welcomed the court order, the PAC move, reportedly at CM Reddy’s command, irked the party. While the BRS was contemplating its next move on the PAC post, things turned unpleasant.
A war of words broke out Wednesday, with Arekapudi publicly claiming that he was still in the opposition and Padi retorting, while speaking to reporters, that if this was the case, “Arekapudi should wear the party scarf, hoist the party flag on his house, and visit the party headquarters”.
Saying so, Padi announced in the media that he would visit Arekapudi’s home Thursday to present him the BRS scarf. As the police prevented Padi from doing so, Arekapudi, with his supporters, barged into the former’s residence and a scuffle broke out between the two groups. Tomatoes and stones were pelted at Padi’s villa, causing some property damage.
Based on Padi’s complaint, Cyberabad police reportedly also registered an attempt to murder case against Arekapudi.
On Friday, several BRS leaders and legislators, including former finance minister T. Harish Rao, were put under house arrest to avoid further escalation of tensions.
Andhra vs Telangana angle
It was amid Thursday’s rumpus that Padi spoke out about Arekapudi’s Andhra origins, terming the three-time MLA in Hyderabad as a settler who made it big in Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
In response, CM Reddy, who was in New Delhi Thursday, accused the BRS of attempting to reignite regional sentiments. He said that the BRS could win 18 of 27 assembly seats in Hyderabad area because of Andhra-origin voters. He added that “the BRS’ true face and attitude towards voters who saved it from being reduced to a mere 20 seats was revealed by these (Padi’s) comments”.
Arekapudi also responded to Padi’s remarks, saying that “while KCR (BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao) never allowed regional sentiments to flare up, some petty leaders are attempting to cause Andhra-Telangana rifts again”.
Harish Rao sought to distance the BRS from Padi’s comments, saying they were targeted at Arekapudi and not on Andhra settlers, while the MLA, too, clarified he has respect for settlers and that the Congress is attempting to stoke regional sentiments for petty political benefits and “in the process damaging Hyderabad’s brand image”.
Harish Rao further accused Revanth Reddy of being “the mastermind behind the attack on Padi’s house”.
“The CM is orchestrating political vendetta and causing the collapse of law and order in the state. How could MLA Arekapudi carry out the attack? Why did the police not stop him and his followers yesterday, like they put us under house arrest today,” he said Friday to reporters at his residence.
BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, who returned from US tour, visited Padi Kaushik Reddy house Saturday to express support and solidarity. The former Telangana minister accused CM Revanth Reddy of engineering defections and that Padi’s house was attacked with police support as he questioned the undemocratic conducts of the ruling dispensation.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
