Hyderabad: If the speculation of 16 TD MLAs joining the BJP in Andhra Pradesh come true, a peculiar situation may arise. The BJP does not have a single legislator in the AP Assembly and hence, there is no BJP Legislature Party. The question is how the TD Legislature Party can merge into a non- existent entity.
BJP leaders claim that TD MLAs are in touch with them to join their party, but TD MLAs deny this. To avoid disqualification, two thirds of TD MLAs have to leave the party. This requires 16 MLAs to leave the TD Legislature Party out of the 23 in the Assembly.
Recently, four TD Rajya Sabha members out of six merged with the BJP Rajya Sabha legislature party. In TS, 12 out of 19 Congress legislators merged with the TRS in the House. As two thirds of TD Rajya Sabha members and two thirds of Congress MLAs merged in other legislature parties, this did not attract the anti-defection act.
“TD MLAs can either sit as a separate group or form the BJP Legislature Party,” former Assembly Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy said, adding that it depends on the Speaker’s decision.
Some experts say that there is no rule in the anti-defection Act to handle a situation like this. BJP leader Krishna Saagar Rao said if the Speaker allows them, these MLAs can form the BJP Legislature Party.
