After more than a year, Telangana Assembly’s LoP KCR attends session under duress

Hyderabad, March 12 (IANS) After more than a year, former Telangana Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition (LoP), K. Chandrashekar Rao, on Wednesday attended the state Legislative Assembly session, under duress. Some Congress leaders had urged the Assembly Speaker on Tuesday to withdraw the salary of KCR as he has not been attending the Assembly sessions and a PIL has also been filed in the High Court on the matter.

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President was present in the House during Governor Jishnu Dev Varma’s address to the joint session of the Legislature on the first day of the Budget Session.

KCR, as the former chief minister is popularly known, has made only brief appearances in the Assembly since losing power to the Congress party in November 2023.

The BRS chief reached the Assembly to a warm welcome from party MLAs. He then held a meeting with BRS MLAs at his chambers before attending the session.

KCR had attended the meeting of BRS legislators at party headquarters Telangana Bhavan on Tuesday. He had directed the party legislators to take the Congress government to task for its unfulfilled poll promises.

Addressing the legislators, KCR said the Congress government was given 15 months to get its act right. He claimed that discontent against the government was growing among all sections of people.

KCR is not likely to attend the session from Thursday. His son and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said Tuesday that KCR’s stature did not befit him to sit in the Assembly and be betrayed by the Congress.

Rama Rao also remarked that no one in the Congress can match KCR’s stature.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and other Congress leaders have been attacking KCR for not attending the Assembly sessions. The Chief Minister challenged him on many occasions to attend the Assembly.

Some Congress leaders had urged Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Tuesday to withdraw the salary of KCR as he has not been attending the Assembly sessions.

Congress Corporator in Hyderabad, Daripally Raja Shekhar Reddy and other leaders submitted the memorandum to the Speaker.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was recently filed in Telangana High Court over KCR’s continued absence from the Assembly.

D. Vijaypal Reddy, general secretary of the Federation of Farmers Association, requested the High Court to instruct the Speaker of the Assembly to ensure that Leader of the Opposition attended the Assembly sessions.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the continued absence of KCR during the Assembly sessions deprived the people of the state the opportunity to voice their grievances before the government.

The High Court directed the petitioner’s counsel to present his arguments if the prolonged absence of the Leader of Opposition in Assembly sessions would come under judicial review.

–IANS

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