Hyderabad, Sep 7 (IANS) Nine out of 10 MLAs who had defected from BRS to Congress last year met Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at his residence on Sunday evening to discuss their future course of action.
Barring Kadiyam Srihari, all defectors attended the meeting, which assumes significance in the wake of the Supreme Court’s July 31 order directing Telangana Assembly Speaker to decide in three months the disqualification proceedings against the 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to Congress in 2024.
During the closed-door meeting, which last for over an hour, the MLAs were understood to have discussed their future course of action in the light of the notices issued to them by Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar following the apex court order.
Though the MLAs claimed that they met the Chief Minister to discuss development of their constituencies, they reportedly discussed the legal and political implications of the notices.
The legislators maintain that they are still with the BRS and cite the Assembly records which still list them as BRS MLAs. They claim that their meetings with the Chief Minister were only to seek funds for their constituencies.
The Supreme Court on July 31 directed Speaker to take a decision in three months on the petitions for disqualification.
A division bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai pronounced orders on the petitions filed by BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao and some other BRS MLAs.
The apex court directed the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions as expeditiously as possible and in any case within a three-months.
The main opposition party had appealed to Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to disqualify all 10 BRS MLAs who defected to Congress since March last year.
The BRS leaders had brought to the Speaker’s notice that as per the Supreme Court judgment in various cases, the Speaker has to take decision on disqualification within three months.
Danam Nagender (Khairatabad constituency), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), M. Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), T. Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), B. Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal) G. Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella) defected to Congress party last year.
–IANS
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