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Telangana Speaker Rejects Disqualification of Two More BRS Turncoat MLAs

Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar has dismissed petitions seeking the disqualification of two more BRS MLAs, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Kale Yadaiah, for allegedly defecting to the Congress. The Speaker ruled there was no evidence of defection and that the anti-defection law does not apply, meaning they technically remain BRS members. This brings the total number of dismissed petitions to seven out of ten filed against MLAs who switched loyalties after the 2023 elections. The Supreme Court had earlier issued a contempt notice to the Speaker for not complying with its directive to decide on these pleas within three months.

Key Points: Telangana Speaker Dismisses Petitions Against 2 BRS MLAs

  • Petitions against 2 MLAs dismissed
  • No evidence of defection found
  • 7 of 10 petitions now rejected
  • Supreme Court issued contempt notice
2 min read

Telangana Speaker rejects petitions for disqualification of two more BRS MLAs

Telangana Assembly Speaker rejects disqualification petitions against two BRS MLAs accused of defecting to Congress, citing lack of evidence.

"there is no evidence that they defected to the Congress - Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar"

Hyderabad, Jan 15

Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Thursday dismissed the petitions to disqualify two BRS MLAs who allegedly shifted loyalties to the ruling Congress.

Pronouncing the orders on the petitions for disqualification of Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Kale Yadaiah, he said that there is no evidence that they defected to the Congress.

The Speaker ruled that the anti-defection law does not apply to the two MLAs and that they are technically still in Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

With this, the Speaker has dismissed petitions for the disqualification of seven out of 10 BRS MLAs, who had allegedly crossed over to the Congress.

Last month, the Speaker dismissed the petitions for the disqualification of five MLAs - Tellam Venkat Rao, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, T. Prakash Goud, Gudem Mahipal Reddy, and Arekapudi Gandhi.

The Speaker is yet to pronounce the order on the plea for the disqualification of Sanjay Kumar.

He had completed the hearing on the petitions for the disqualification of eight MLAs and reserved the orders.

The hearing on the disqualification of two other MLAs, Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, is likely after they submit their replies to the notices served on them.

They sought more time to respond to the notice sent by the Speaker in November.

The BRS had filed petitions for the disqualification of 10 MLAs who were elected to the Assembly on its ticket in the 2023 elections but switched loyalties to Congress in 2024.

While the BRS complained that these MLAs openly joined the Congress and even sat in the treasury benches in the Assembly, the MLAs denied that they joined the ruling party.

They contended that they only met Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to seek funds for the development of their constituencies.

The Supreme Court, on November 17, issued a contempt notice to the Telangana Speaker for not complying with its directive to decide on disqualification pleas against the 10 MLAs.

On July 31, a bench headed by the then Chief Justice B.R. Gavai had directed the Assembly Speaker to decide in three months the matter of the disqualification of the 10 MLAs.

The bench termed the non-compliance of its earlier directions as the grossest kind of contempt while issuing notices to the Speaker and others on the pleas filed by the BRS leaders.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

S
Sarah B
As an observer, the process seems deeply flawed. The Supreme Court had to issue a contempt notice! This isn't about politics, it's about respecting constitutional bodies and timelines. A sad state of affairs for democracy.
P
Priyanka N
The MLAs' excuse is they met the CM for "development funds"? Really? Everyone knows what's happening. This technicality game is insulting the voters' intelligence. The people of their constituencies must feel so betrayed.
A
Aman W
While I'm no fan of BRS, the principle matters. Defection for power or funds weakens the system. The Speaker should have acted decisively as per the law, not dragged his feet until the SC had to step in.
K
Karthik V
Maybe there is a legal nuance we are missing. The Speaker has given a reasoned order, we should read it fully before jumping to conclusions. But the delay is definitely questionable, I agree.
M
Meera T
This is why people lose faith in politics. You vote for a party symbol, but the person switches sides after winning. The anti-defection law needs more teeth to prevent such "technical" defections. Our democracy deserves better.

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