Speaker Declines To Disqualify BRS Mlas
With this decision, the Speaker has now rejected petitions against all 10 BRS legislators who were alleged to have shifted loyalties to the Congress in 2024.
Hyderabad: Telangana Assembly Speaker G. Prasad Kumar on Wednesday dismissed disqualification petitions against MLAs Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, citing lack of evidence, bringing to a close the issue of defections from the BRS to Congress by 10 MLAs who won the last Assembly elections on BRS party tickets.
The dismissal of petitions against Khairatabad MLA Nagender and Station Ghanpur MLA Srihari follows similar decisions earlier against eight other BRS MLAs, whom the party alleged had defected to Congress.
Nagender, speaking to reporters later, said his contesting the Lok Sabha election was an exercise of his fundamental right. “I never left the BRS and did not join the Congress. If anyone had to seek an explanation from me, it should have been BRS president K Chandrashekar Rao. And neither I, nor the nine others were issued any whip by the BRS, and none of us took any step that was against the BRS in the Assembly,” he said. He added that he had placed all these facts before the Speaker in his affidavit and welcomed the decision.
Srihari echoed this stance, saying none of the 10 MLAs accused of defecting had joined Congress. “We have been with the BRS and did not go against the party line in the Assembly. KCR never talked about the defections in public. We are with the party but may be at a distance from its leadership,” he said.
The other MLAs whose petitions were dismissed are Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Dr Sanjay (Jagtial), Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy (Jogulamba Gadwal), and Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru).
Meanwhile, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao criticised the Speaker’s decision, alleging it was taken under pressure from Rahul Gandhi. “This assault on democracy would not have happened without Rahul Gandhi, who is the perpetrator and main culprit. Without his permission, the Speaker does not have it in him to take such a heinous decision,” he said. On Nagender’s case, he added: “He contested on a BRS ticket and then on a Congress ticket. How can this person not be disqualified? If Rahul Gandhi has any shame, he must answer.”
