HYDERABAD: State Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday dismissed the disqualification petitions filed against BRS MLAs Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, who were accused of shifting their allegiance to the Congress.
With this decision, the Speaker has now disposed of all the disqualification petitions filed against 10 legislators elected on the BRS ticket.
The development is significant as Danam Nagender, after winning the Assembly election on a BRS ticket, had contested the Lok Sabha elections as a candidate of the Congress without resigning his Assembly seat.
BRS legislator Padi Kaushik Reddy and BJP legislator Alleti Maheshwar Reddy had filed petitions seeking Nagender’s disqualification, questioning his continuation as an MLA.
In a separate petition, BRS MLA KP Vivekanand sought the disqualification of Kadiyam Srihari for allegedly joining the ruling Congress.
The decision was communicated through a note issued by the Secretary to the Legislature (Assembly). According to the note, the orders “will be uploaded on the official website of the Telangana Legislature immediately after publication in the Telangana Gazette.” However, the order had not been uploaded on the website at the time of filing this report.
The Speaker took the decision after hearing arguments from both sides in his capacity as the chairman of the tribunal constituted under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India to look into the disqualification petitions.
Speaking to the media, Nagender said he had submitted a 55-page affidavit through his advocates, asserting before the Speaker that he had “not done anything wrong.” “The Speaker examined my arguments and pronounced the judgment,” he said.
Nagender also alleged that the BRS and the BJP had jointly filed the disqualification petitions against him, suggesting collusion between the two parties. He added that he was prepared to face a byelection if he were disqualified.
Reacting to the decision, Kadiyam Srihari said the BRS had no moral right to seek the disqualification of legislators. He alleged that BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao was the one who institutionalised defections in the state.
“If KCR apologises to the people and admits that what he did regarding defections when the BRS was in power was wrong, I will resign as an MLA and contest the byelection,” Srihari said, questioning why the former chief minister had remained silent on the disqualification petitions.
With the latest order, the Speaker dismissed disqualification petitions against the following 10 legislators: Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), M Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and Arikepudi Gandhi (Serilingampally).