Kishan Reddy Asks Rahul Gandhi To Respond To Danam Nagender Disqualification

Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy on Saturday demanded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi respond to the Telangana High Court’s decision on the disqualification of MLA Danam Nagender, who was elected on a BRS ticket before joining the Congress.

Addressing the media in Hyderabad, Kishan Reddy said the High Court ruling was a setback to both the Congress and BRS, which he accused of encouraging political defections. He alleged that the two parties had followed similar approaches when it came to retaining or inducting legislators who switched parties.

Kishan Reddy particularly questioned Nagender’s candidature in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He pointed out that Nagender was still a BRS MLA when he contested the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket and asked how the Congress leadership could allot him the ticket without first resolving his status as an MLA.

He also questioned Rahul Gandhi’s repeated references to the Constitution, asking whether the Congress had the moral authority to speak about constitutional values while accepting a sitting MLA from another party. He described the Congress leader’s claims of defending the Constitution as political posturing.

Referring to the history of political defections in the region, Kishan Reddy alleged that former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had also encouraged defections while in power.

He cited Sabitha Indra Reddy as an example, saying she had won as a Congress MLA but later joined the BRS government and became a minister without resigning her Assembly seat.

Kishan Reddy further accused the Congress and BRS of misusing power and corruption, saying there was little difference between the two parties on these issues.

He also asked the Congress government to explain what action had been taken on the allegations Revanth Reddy had made against the previous BRS regime, noting that the Congress government had been in office for nearly three years.