Hyderabad, Nov 23 Member of Telangana Legislative Assembly Danam Nagender, one of the 10 BRS MLAs who allegedly shifted loyalties to Congress party, has sought more time to respond to the notice sent by Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar.
Nagender, who represents Khairatabad constituency in Hyderabad, has written to the Speaker seeking additional time to respond to the notice.
The Speaker has already completed hearing on the petitions for disqualification of eight MLAs who allegedly defected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the ruling Congress party.
The Speaker on November 20 issued fresh notices to Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, directing them to respond by November 23. This was the third time the two MLAs were issued notices after they failed to respond to earlier notices.
Srihari has already sought more time to respond to the latest notice.
BRS had filed petitions for disqualification of 10 MLAs who were elected to Assembly on BRS ticket in 2023 elections but switched loyalties to Congress in 2024.
The Speaker has completed hearing on petitions for disqualification of eight MLAs -- Kale Yadaiah, Krishna Mohan Reddy, G. Mahipal Reddy, T. Prakash Goud, Sanjay Kumar, Arekapudi Gandhi, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Tellam Venkat Rao. After hearing arguments from both sides, the Speaker reserved its ordered.
While BRS complained that these MLAs openly joined Congress party and even sat in the treasury benches in the Assembly, the MLAs denied that they joined the ruling party. They contended that only met Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to seek funds for development of their constituencies.
The BRS brought to the notice of the Speaker that Nagender not only joined the Congress but also contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on Congress ticket. It also alleged that Kadiyam Srihari openly campaigned for his daughter Kadiyam Kaviya, who contested Lok Sabha polls from Warangal constituency as the Congress candidate.
The Supreme Court, on November 17, issued a contempt notice to the Telangana speaker for not complying with its directive to decide on disqualification pleas against the 10 MLAs.
On July 31, a bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai had directed the Assembly Speaker to decide in three months the matter of the disqualification of the 10 MLAs.
The bench termed the non-compliance of its earlier directions as the grossest kind of contempt while issuing notices to the Speaker and others on the pleas filed by the BRS leaders. The bench also issued notice on a separate plea filed on behalf of the office of the Speaker seeking extension of time by eight more weeks to decide the disqualification pleas.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.
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