KCR favours simultaneous elections as he is with the BJP, says Revanth Reddy
The Hindu
Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy claims KCR's silence on 'One Nation One Election' is an indication of his support for PM Modi. He alleges the move is unconstitutional and dangerous for democracy, and could lead to a Constitutional crisis. He also accuses Modi of demeaning the Presidential office by appointing former President Kovind to lead the committee.
Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was in favour of the ‘One Nation One Election’ concept and his silence even after the Centre made its intentions clear is an indication of his continuous support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
At a press conference in Hyderabad on September 3, Mr. Reddy also released a letter submitted by the Chief Minister revealing that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (now BRS) was in favour of simultaneous elections to the Parliament. The letter was in response to the letter sent by the then Law Commission of India Chairman, Justice B.S. Chauhan.
In that letter, Mr. KCR said the TRS was strongly in favour of holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies and that he was deputing then TRS Parliament member B. Vinod Kumar to an interaction called by the Law Commission.
Mr. Reddy claimed that Mr. KCR’s silence even after the news broke out was an indication of the BRS-BJP’s friendship. He said Mr. KCR supported all the controversial bills and decisions of the BJP in the last 9 years and he would completely support the One Nation One Election bill as well. “Let Mr. KCR come out and make his stand clear,” he demanded.
The Congress chief alleged that the simultaneous elections were the first step to change India’s governance from a Prime Minister form of governance to a Presidential form of governance where only Mr. Modi could take all the decisions. The Constituent Assembly that debated before the Constitution was finalised had opposed the Presidential form of governance as it saw power going into one man’s hands was not desirable for the country, he said.
So any move by Mr. Modi towards simultaneous elections was Unconstitutional and dangerous for democracy. The rights of the States would be snatched away completely and the very existence of Southern states would be in question, he argued. “It was unfortunate that Mr. KCR was supporting such a move where the future of Telangana was at stake,” he alleged.
Mr. Revanth Reddy claimed that recent surveys have proved beyond doubt that Congress was coming back to power in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan and that has worried Mr. Modi who was trying to create a new narrative but people are smart enough. The C Voter survey gave 38% of votes to Congress and 31% to the BRS and the CM was wary of his rapidly declining popularity and decided to side with Mr. Modi.