HYDERABAD: “Turncoat” legislators T Prakash Goud and Kale Yadaiah, two of the 10 MLAs against whom the BRS has filed disqualification petitions, appeared before the Tribunal that was established under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and is chaired by Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday.
The two MLAs were questioned for about an hour by the counsels representing the petitioners over charges of defection to the ruling Congress.
Unconfirmed sources, meanwhile, said that two other “defected” MLAs, Gudem Mahipal Reddy and Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, whose cross-examination was scheduled for Wednesday, didn’t turn up for the hearings.
The Speaker’s office said the issues that emerged during the proceedings have been placed on record, and further action on the pending petitions would follow in due course.
The Tribunal is likely to issue a schedule of trial in disqualification petitions against the other alleged turncoat MLAs in the coming days.
Besides Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), Yadaiah (Chevella), Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), the other “defected” MLAs are Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), M Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam) and Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally),
On September 29, the Tribunal held the first round of hearings when the petitioners themselves were cross-examined by the respondents’ advocates.
BRS MLAs Kalvakuntla Sanjay, Chinta Prabhakar and Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, who had filed the disqualification pleas, were cross-examined by counsels of the respondent MLAs. The depositions on that day focused on the claims and circumstances cited in the petitions.