SC Verdict on Defector MLAs on Expected Lines: Shabbir
He accused the BRS of double standards and political opportunism. “It is ironic that the BRS, which engineered mass defections during its regime and repeatedly ignored the anti-defection law, is now trying to hide behind constitutional provisions to protect its own political interests.”
Nizamabad: Senior Congress leader and adviser to the Telangana government, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict directing the Telangana Assembly Speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions filed against 10 MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress. He said the judgment was a clear vindication of the Speaker’s Constitutional authority and a slap in the face of the BRS, which is now questioning the very powers it once exploited.
Speaking to the media, Shabbir Ali said, “We have received the kind of verdict we expected. The Supreme Court has clearly upheld the Speaker’s powers, stating that both the Assembly and Judiciary are independent institutions with their own jurisdictions. The apex court has dismissed the petition filed by K.T. Rama Rao, who tried to undermine the Speaker’s role.”
He accused the BRS of double standards and political opportunism. “It is ironic that the BRS, which engineered mass defections during its regime and repeatedly ignored the anti-defection law, is now trying to hide behind constitutional provisions to protect its own political interests,” he remarked.
Shabbir Ali further stated that during his tenure as Former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao promoted a culture of political defections in Telangana. “No other leader in the country has systematically weakened the anti-defection law like Chandrashekar Rao. Over the last 10 years, he facilitated the defection of at least 43 elected representatives without facing legal consequences,” he said. “I lost my position as the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council due to the defection of Congress MLCs engineered by KCR,” he added.
He said the BRS’s attempt to discredit the Speaker’s authority has backfired. “This judgment has not only exposed the hypocrisy of BRS but also restored public faith in constitutional processes. Chandrashekar Rao, who once used the Speaker’s office to legitimise defections, is now questioning the same institution. That contradiction has been rightly called out by the Supreme Court,” Shabbir Ali said.