As Telangana Turns 'Last Resort' for Bihar, Jharkhand Congress MLAs, Rivals Slam 'Waste of Taxpayer Money'

Hyderabad has become a hotspot of “resort politics” after the Congress came to power in Telangana last year. On Friday, 39 MLAs from Jharkhand arrived in the city and spent the weekend at a luxury resort. They went back on Sunday just before the crucial floor test in the Jharkhand assembly.

On the same day, 16 MLAs from Bihar arrived in the city and were whisked away to a resort in Ibrahimpatnam on the outskirts.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary SA Sampath Kumar and Ibrahimpatnam MLA Malreddy Ranga Reddy were entrusted with the responsibility of looking after these legislators.

They were flown in among rumours that the ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar was trying to poach MLAs from the Congress. Sources say that these legislators will stay in the city till February 11. Chief minister Nitish Kumar faces a floor test in Patna on February 12.

The Congress wants to keep its flock together and Telangana is a safe haven for it after coming to power here with a thumping majority.

These developments have attracted criticism from opposition parties in the state. Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) spokesperson Dasoju Sravan slammed the Congress for hosting these MLAs at the cost of the exchequer. “Under the leadership of Revanth Reddy, the Telangana government has become an ATM for the Indian National Congress. They are using taxpayers’ money for their political conspiracies,” he said.

When asked about this comment, Kiran Kumar Chamala, vice president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, told News18 that his party was “trying to save democracy”.

“How do they know we are spending taxpayers’ money on hosting these MLAs? It might be funded by their state governments too. We are trying to save democracy by preventing the poaching of legislators by the BJP,” he said. “BRS is frustrated and has been making senseless comments from the day we came to power. If any public money has gone towards this, we will not hide it. BRS is just trying to divert people’s attention by making baseless allegations.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rachana Reddy too had lashed out at the Congress for its “desperate attempts” to prevent poaching. She had also alleged that the Congress was wasting taxpayers’ money on “resort politics”.