BRS Condemns Speaker’s Move On Turncoat MLAs

Hyderabad: The BRS on Wednesday condemned the decision of Speaker G. Prasad Kumar in dismissing its petitions seeking disqualification of alleged turncoat MLAs, saying by doing so, the Speaker failed to uphold constitutional provisions and acted in a partisan manner.

In swift reactions to the Speaker’s decision dismissing disqualification petitions against five of the 10 MLAs elected on BRS tickets but who the BRS alleges joined the Congress subsequently, BRS leaders vowed to continue their battle in the courts to ensure the disqualifications.

The BRS’ Quthbullapur MLA K.P. Vivekanand Goud and Dr Kalvakuntla Sanjay, who were among the petitioners from their party and filed the disqualification pleas, told reporters at the Assembly said though the 10 turncoat MLAs had won on BRS tickets and subsequently openly associated themselves with the Congress and even campaigned for it in the Parliament elections, and now in the panchayat raj elections, the Speaker did not “see” any of this.

“The Speaker said the five on whom he announced his decision, will continue as MLAs. There was no clarity, it was just a single line statement. There was no declaration of which party they are in now. He did not answer our question for the basis of the decision and we were told that the judgement copy will be uploaded on the Assembly website. We have doubts if this was an attempt to close the case before the Supreme Court deadline,” Vivekanand said.

He also said it appeared that the Speaker was reading out a note that was likely in the handwriting of the Chief Minster when he announced his decision.

Senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao also said Rahul Gandhi’s ‘save the Constitution’ slogan “now lies fully exposed for its hollowness. The Congress government, led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has undermined even the constitutional position of a Speaker. People are following these developments and watching them closely.”