New Delhi: Taking the capital by storm by highlighting the rampant corruption of Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh, Leader of Opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that there has been a breach of anti-defection law by TDP and the Act should be further amended by vesting powers to disqualify defectors in the hands of the Election Commission instead of the Speaker.
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who led the party delegation comprising MPs, MLAs, MLCs and senior party leaders on a mission to meet the national leaders to apprise them of the rampant corruption of Chandrababu Naidu and his unethical practices of buying MLAs with the ill-gotten wealth told media after meeting Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar ‘that the anti-defection law is being bypassed by the TDP government by shielding the defectors and even going to the extent of offering them ministerial berths.
This is a bad precedent and a big blow to democracy. As the Speaker always happens to be from the ruling party, as in the past it is also happening now in Andhra Pradesh that no action is being initiated against the defectors and the government is shielding them from disqualification.
The law needs to be further amended and the power of disqualification should be vested in the hands of the Election Commission and not the Speaker which will arrest this trend,’ he said.
CPM General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury, whom the YSRCP leader had later met, said: ‘there is every need to further amend the Anti-Defection Law and expressed his solidarity with YSRCP in its fight against the fight for shielding defectors from defections.
"The same issue was raised in the Parliament in a different context and we will support YSRCP on the issue and will take it up at all forums as such acts would weaken democracy," he said.
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy slammed Chandrababu Naidu for his unethical practices and released a book titled ‘Emperor of Corruption’ which depicts the corruption charges with evidence comprising the GOs issued as part of nepotism, the documents of land registrations in the capital area and the various scams which when monetized sum up to Rs 1, 34,295 crores during the 24 months of his tenure.
He has been spending this ill-gotten money to lure MLAs by offering them up to Rs 30 crores and in some cases even ministerial berths and despite our repeated pleas, the turncoats were not disqualified as Chandrababu Naidu fears that he will bite dust in the people’s court as he has been following anti-people policies, YSRCP President has said.
Chandrababu Naidu has been poaching on the opposition turf and has unethically bought 13 of our MLAs. It makes no difference to us, but every person who respects democracy has the right to question such a serious deviation in a parliamentary democracy. The very same Chandrababu Naidu has been caught red-handed in Telengana state while poaching an MLA with audio-visual (AV) evidence.
If a person gets elected on one party ticket is bought and taken into cabinet this will be a blot on the democratic fabric of our country and we are here to highlight the poaching and corruption issues of Chandrababu Naidu government.
Whether it is United Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh after division or Uttarakhand, the anti-defection law should be in force and turncoats should either quit or they should be disqualified immediately failing which the faith of the people is being mocked at.
There is need to amend the law further and we are here to mobilize public opinion by meeting national leaders on the issue as this would percolate from the states to Centre and a day and a situation may arise when the Prime Minister and Finance Minister may be elected from two opposing parties and come together.
