HYDERABAD: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy described the Speaker’s decision on the disqualification petitions as a disrespect to democracy.
“Giving a clean chit to Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari is nothing but trampling on the verdict of the people,” he said.
He alleged that the Congress government was only continuing the culture of the previous BRS regime in handling disqualification cases. “Was the evidence that Nagender contested the Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket not sufficient to disqualify him?” he asked.
Calling it a “dark day” in the history of democracy, he said the government had made a mockery of the people’s verdict with the support of the Speaker.
He recalled that leaders elected on Congress tickets were made ministers during the BRS regime and alleged that both the Congress and the BRS were competing with each other to dilute the anti-defection law.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay said the situation was like a “mother killing her own baby”. The Speaker should have acted independently, he said, adding that they would move the High Court against the decision.
Sanjay also recalled that the West Bengal High Court had rejected a similar decision taken by the Speaker of that state.
In a post on X, he wrote: “Didn’t Congress give a B-Form to a defected candidate to contest in the Lok Sabha elections? Just because our BJP senior leader and Union Minister @kishanreddybjp garu won the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, is there no evidence now? If all this happened in front of the entire state, how did the defection suddenly disappear on paper?”