Speaker not acting on defections: Congress

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday alleged that the Speaker of the Assembly was not responding on the petitions being submitted to him on the defections.

Addressing the media, after meeting Governor ESL Narasimhan along with leaders of Telugu Desam, Telangana Jana Samithi and Communist Party of India, Uttam Kumar said that the Speaker was not attending his office on the directions of the Chief Minister.

He criticised that the Chief Minister has been acting in undemocratic manner. He said that the Congress was not weak, but the MLAs of the party got sold to the ruling party.

He said that the MLAs have been defecting to serve their own purposes. One MLA had defected as his wife has been promised ZP chairperson post.

He alleged that the Chief Minister has been trying to give main opposition status to MIM. Leader of the opposition in Assembly Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that the Raj Bhavan, residence of the Governor, was meant to protect the Constitution.

He said that they have urged the Governor to protect the Constitution.

He said that they have demanded the Governor to implement the Anti Defection Law against the MLAs who have defected.

He said that the ruling party has been playing a mind game with the CLP merger. He said that they would knock any door to save the Constitution.

Meanwhile, an interesting discussion is said to have taken place between former MLC Mohammad Shabbir Ali and Governor ESL Narasimhan during the all-party meet with the latter.

Shabbir reportedly told the Governor that he should unleash the weapon to straighten the situation in the state. However, the Governor said that he does not have any secret weapon, all that he got was a pen in his hands.