Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has launched a sharp attack on the BJP over the rejection of Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh, accusing the ruling party of indulging in “seat chori” (seat theft) after allegedly failing to carry out “vote chori” (vote theft).
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Friday, Revanth Reddy alleged that the BJP and the Returning Officer in Madhya Pradesh conspired to disqualify Natarajan’s nomination papers. He claimed that the ruling party resorted to procedural tactics to ensure an uncontested path to victory in the Rajya Sabha elections after being unable to secure political advantage through other means.
In a strongly worded criticism, the Telangana Chief Minister said the BJP was adopting what he described as a “Kim Jong Un model” of democracy, alleging that the party wanted elections with no effective opposition. According to him, the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination undermined democratic principles and electoral fairness.
The controversy began after Natarajan’s nomination for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections was rejected during scrutiny. Election officials cited her alleged failure to disclose details of a pending case in Telangana in her nomination affidavit. BJP leaders argued that the omission violated nomination rules and justified the rejection.
Congress leaders, however, have strongly disputed the basis of the decision. The party maintains that there is no criminal case against Natarajan and argues that she was merely named as a respondent in a private complaint filed by a former Congress corporator in Hyderabad. Congress leaders contend that no court had taken cognisance of the complaint and therefore there was nothing that warranted disqualification.
Revanth Reddy further alleged that the BJP orchestrated the entire episode to prevent the Congress from contesting effectively for the third Rajya Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh. Other Telangana Congress leaders, including T. Jagga Reddy, have also accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being behind the rejection, calling it an attempt to manipulate the electoral process.
The nomination dispute has escalated into a major political confrontation between the Congress and BJP, with both parties trading accusations over electoral integrity, transparency, and the functioning of democratic institutions. The matter has also sparked legal and political debate over disclosure requirements in election affidavits and the powers of election authorities during nomination scrutiny.
