Hyderabad, Sep 12 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao on Friday asked Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, if MLA 'chori' in Telangana is any less than the 'vote chori' he has been talking about.

Rama Rao slammed the Congress leader over the defection of 10 BRS MLAs to the Congress party.

The BRS leader took to X to launch an attack on the Congress party amid reports that the defected MLAs wrote to Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar that they are still with BRS and have not joined the Congress as alleged.

Eight out of 10 defected MLAs took the same stand in their replies to the notices issued by the Speaker.

KTR posted the photographs of the defected MLAs with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, after they joined the Congress party and asked Rahul Gandhi if he could recognise the Congress scarf they were wearing.

'Dear Rahul Gandhi, Please take a look at this image. Can you recognise the Congress Scarf? Do you recognise these defected BRS MLAs who had also met with you in Delhi? Now, all these MLAs who joined Congress after winning on the BRS ticket are saying they didn't switch parties, and this isn't Congress scarf. Do you agree? Isn't this MLA Chori? How is this any less than Vote Chori? Aren't you ashamed of your complicity'? asked KTR.

The Speaker recently issued notices to the defected MLAs following the Supreme Court order, directing him to take a decision within three months on the petitions for disqualification.

Responding to the Speaker's notices, eight out of 10 defected MLAs stated that they were still in the BRS party and had not joined the Congress as alleged.

The MLAs wrote to the Speaker that they met Chief Minister Revanth Reddy seeking funds for the development of their constituencies, and they have not resigned from the BRS so far. They also claimed that the BRS has been saying that it has 37 MLAs.

Nine out of the 10 defected MLAs met Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on September 7.

Barring Kadiyam Srihari, all defectors attended the meeting, which assumes significance in the wake of the Supreme Court's July 31 order directing Telangana Assembly Speaker to decide in three months the disqualification proceedings against the BRS MLAs who defected to Congress in 2024.

The apex court had directed the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions as expeditiously as possible and in any case within three months.

The main opposition party had appealed to Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to disqualify all 10 BRS MLAs who defected to Congress since March last year.

The BRS leaders had brought to the Speaker's notice that, as per the Supreme Court judgment in various cases, the Speaker has to take a decision on disqualification within three months.

/IANS