BRS urges Telangana Speaker to disqualify turncoat MLAs

Hyderabad, June (IANS) The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has urged Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad to immediately disqualify MLAs Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and M. Sanjay Kumar as they defected to the ruling Congress after winning the election on its ticket.

BRS leader and former minister G. Jagadish Reddy sent an email and a letter through speed post to both the Speaker and Legislative Affairs Secretary on Wednesday.

Srinivas Reddy, a former Assembly Speaker and MLA from Banswada, and Sanjay Kumar, the MLA from Jagtial, joined the Congress a few days ago.

Jagadish Reddy told media persons that he brought to the Speaker’s notice that the defection of Srinivas Reddy and Sanjay Kumar is against the law. Stating that the duo violated the anti-defection law, the BRS leader demanded that their Assembly membership should be cancelled.

He said BRS leaders had sought an appointment with the Speaker to submit a representation.

"Since we have not been given the appointment, a letter through speed post and an email was sent to the Speaker, seeking the disqualification of both the MLAs," he said.

The BRS leader said if the Speaker failed to take action on their request, they would pursue legal action.

On BRS MLA from Patancheru Gudem Mahipal Reddy’s meeting with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in New Delhi, he said that the Chief Minister was making door-to-door visits and inviting BRS MLAs to join the Congress, and slammed the party for encouraging defections despite promising in its manifesto that it would not resort to such acts.

He said senior Congress leader and MLC T. Jeevan Reddy had also expressed similar thoughts.

The BRS had already sought disqualification of Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari, and Tellam Venkat Rao, the three MLAs who joined Congress before the Lok Sabha elections.

A petition filed by BRS in the High Court seeking an order from the Speaker for the disqualification of Nagender is posted for hearing on Thursday.

The party is likely to approach the Supreme Court, seeking direction to the Speaker to disqualify all five MLAs who have defected to Congress.

Jagadish Reddy claimed that during BRS rule, Congress MLAs willingly joined the BRS. He said two-thirds of Congress MLAs had joined the BRS as per law.