The Telangana high court on Monday directed Telangana Assembly speaker’s office to take action against the defected MLAs in the state Assembly. The court heard arguments on the day on the petitions filed by BRS and BJP MLAs against those who defected to the ruling Congress.
Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari and Tellam Venkatrao have defected to the ruling Congress after being elected as the BRS MLAs. BRS leaders Padi Koushik Reddy and Vivekananda Gowd filed a petition in the high court seeking disqualification of the three MLAs.
BJP MLA Maheswara Reddy also filed a petition in the court seeking disqualification of MLA Danam Nagendar. The court heard all the petitions on the day. The advocates from both sides presented their arguments.
The petitioners argued that the MLAs on getting elected on one party have crossed fence and joined another party. They argued that these MLAs have no right to continue in their posts. They sought the court to disqualify them and order for fresh elections in the three Assembly constituencies.
The court, on hearing the arguments, directed the office of the Assembly Speaker, to take a call on the issue in the next four weeks. The court further said that if the speaker fails to take a call, the court would take up the issue.
It is now to be seen what steps that the speaker’s office would take against these MLAs. The Speaker is likely to consult legal experts and chief minister A Revanth Reddy, before taking a decision.
