Disqualify those who defected to BJP: 5 TDP MPs urge Venkaiah Naidu

A day after four Rajya Sabha MPs of the Telugu Desam Party defected to the BJP, the TDP's remaining five MPs met the Chairman of the Upper House and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, urging him to disqualify their former colleagues.

Terming the merger of the former TDP MPs with the saffron party as "illegal," the five MPs also went into a huddle to explore legal options against the move.

"The Rajya Sabha Chairman has told the representation of the five TDP MPs that he will examine the submission made to him. We are waiting for his response. We are also exploring legal options in the meanwhile," a TDP spokesperson told IANS.

In a written complaint to Naidu, the five MPs - two Rajya Sabha and three Lok Sabha - emphasised that the merger of the two political parties can only take place at the organisational level, as per the Tenth Schedule in the Constitution.

"We have come to know through media reports that four Rajya Sabha members have submitted a so-called resolution citing Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, claiming that the TDP Legislature Party in the Rajya Sabha is merging with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, as per Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, any merger of political parties must take place at the organisational level," the complaint letter stated.

"This is to bring you to your kind attention that there has been no merger of the TDP with the BJP. I would like to bring to your kind notice that the TDP Legislature Party in the Rajya Sabha consists of six members and no notice had been sent to the members with regard to the convening of the said meeting. Hence, it may be considered that no such meeting has been conducted," it added.

On Thursday, four Rajya Sabha MPs of TDP -- Y.S. Chowdary, C.M. Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao and T.G. Venkatesh - had announced that they had joined the BJP.

Interestingly, the four had also met Naidu and urged him to approve the merger of the TDP legislature party with the BJP in the Upper House.

The written submission further said that the defected MPs are not competent to claim merger of the organisational wing of the TDP with BJP.

"Since there has been no organisational merger between the TDP and the BJP, their resolution for merger of TDP Legislature Party in the Rajya Sabha with that of BJP should be rejected at the outset," it said.

It said the TDP will move an application before the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the defected MPs' disqualification even as it requested that they should not be treated as part of the BJP parliamentary party. IANS