Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao on Friday launched a blistering attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of maintaining a “conspiratorial silence” over the wave of defections from the BRS to the Congress in Telangana.
Rao said Gandhi, who frequently speaks against “vote chori” (vote theft) at the national level, has failed to take a stand on what he called “brazen MLA chori” in the state.
“Rahul Gandhi should be ashamed of this undemocratic and unconstitutional practice. This is a crime worse than the so-called vote chori he keeps talking about,” he said.
The BRS leader demanded that Rahul Gandhi respond to statements by defected MLAs who, despite switching sides, are now publicly denying they joined the Congress. “The Congress party’s role in this shameless chori proves its double standards. Rahul Gandhi must answer,” Rao said.
He pointed to images circulated by Congress leaders showing several of the defectors draped in party scarves and posing with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. “You draped them in the Congress scarf and now you say they never joined? Do you still stand by this denial?” he asked.
“If this is not MLA chori, then what is it? How is this any less serious than vote chori? Are you not ashamed of your complicity in such political hypocrisy?” he pressed further.
Warning that such defections weaken democracy and erode public trust, the BRS working president alleged that the Congress government was more focused on engineering defections than addressing people’s problems.
Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the BJP, in collusion with the Election Commission of India, carried out “vote chori” in several state elections, including Karnataka, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
Last week, Rahul Gandhi threatened to “drop a hydrogen bomb” of revelations exposing alleged manipulation of voter rolls. He claimed that once the truth about “vote chori” comes out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi “will not be able to show his face to the country”.
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