Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Hyderabad, Oct 30 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday urged the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer not to allow the Congress government to expand the state cabinet in view of the Jubilee Hills bypoll.
A delegation of leaders from the Telangana unit of BJP met Chief Electoral Officer Sudarshan Reddy and submitted a memorandum.
He drew their attention to media reports that Congress leader and former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin would be included in the Telangana Cabinet.
BJP’s deputy leader in Telangana Assembly Payal Shankar said this would be a gross violation of the model code of conduct by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. He alleged that the Chief Minister wanted to please a section of voters in the Jubilee Hills by-election.
The BJP leader said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy offered Azharuddin a ministerial berth to attract a section of voters.
Saying that such announcements are against election conduct rules and an attempt to “influence” voters, the BJP submitted a complaint to the Election Commission.
BJP demanded that the Congress government should immediately stop these unethical activities being done during the elections.
The complaint said, “This proposal is nothing more than an attempt to woo and attract a section of voters in the upcoming Jubilee Hills by-election. This proposal at this stage is a complete violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Even though the MCC is not in force in the entire Hyderabad city, the said announcement made by the Honorable Chief Minister will, if any, have an adverse impact on the by-election in the Jubilee Hills constituency.”
The BJP also informed that Azharuddin had contested the 2023 assembly elections as a candidate from the Jubilee Hills constituency.
AICC has reportedly approved Azharuddin’s inclusion in the cabinet. The former cricketer is likely to take oath as minister on October 31.
Jubilee Hills by-election is scheduled to be held on November 11. The vacancy had arisen after the death of sitting BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June.
Meanwhile, state BJP chief N. Ramachander Rao has said that the decision to make Azharuddin a minister amid the Jubilee Hills by-election is a clear violation of the model code of conduct. He called it appeasement politics.
–IANS
ms/svn