Revanth Reddy deals pre-emptive blow to BRS by appointing Arekapudi Gandhi as PAC chairman

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy dealt a pre-emptive blow to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Friday by appointing Arekapudi Gandhi as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The Opposition party was expecting former minister T Harish Rao to be appointed to the position.

Gandhi technically is still a BRS MLA though he joined the Congress recently. This way, Revanth has “honoured” the tradition of appointing an MLA from Opposition party and yet at the same time retained it with the Congress.

The BRS has raised a hue and cry, after it became clear how a very important position eluded the party.

The Congress leaders describe Revanth’s decision as a tit for tat against the BRS for engineering defections from the Congress into the BRS when the latter was in power.

The BRS is seething with rage ever since the Speaker nominated Gandhi instead of Harish Rao as the chairman of the PAC.

BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao had recommended Harish Rao’s name for the post as, by tradition it should go to the legislator nominated by the Opposition party president.

The BRS argues that it was a clear violation of rules. On top of this, the chief minister, who is the leader of the House, did not even bother to inform his choice of Gandhi to KCR.

The Congress circles view Gandhi’s appointment by the chief minister as a move to checkmate KCR in the political chess game.

The Congress leaders said that the chief minister came up with the strategy to prevent Harish Rao from becoming the chairman of the PAC.

The PAC is a very important committee since it has the power to audit the state government’s accounts.

Had Harish Rao been appointed, the Congress would have become vulnerable to the probing questions of the BRS leader who is good at finances. In fact, he was finance minister in the previous BRS government.

The Congress leaders contend that the sins of the BRS are coming back to visit the pink party leaders.

They recall how the BRS had appointed MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi as the PAC chairman, though it was a friendly party of the BRS then, when the post should go to the Opposition party.