BRS petitions Assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of 10 party MLAs who joined Congress

Hyderabad: The BRS in Telangana on Tuesday petitioned Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar seeking disqualification of its 10 MLAs who have joined the ruling Congress.

BRS Working President K T Rama Rao and other party MLAs submitted petitions to the Speaker at the Legislative Assembly here.

The Speaker assured that he would look into the petitions and take a decision after going through relevant provisions of law and the Constitution, Rama Rao said.

"We still have confidence in the Speaker. We are hoping that he will take a decision. If he does not, we will go to the Supreme Court," he told reporters.

The apex court had laid down in a judgement that the Speaker should decide on disqualification within three months and this was explained to Prasad Kumar, said Rama Rao, son of BRS president and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi makes tall claims about protecting the Constitution but he is patting on the back of MLAs who defected, Rama Rao alleged.

The BRS delegation also complained to the Speaker about alleged protocol violations in official events with BRS MLAs being ignored.

The BRS submitted the disqualification petitions in the wake of 10 party MLAs switching over to Congress since the latter came to power in December last year.

Besides 10 BRS MLAs, six party MLCs have also crossed over to the Congress.

Responding to BRS's criticism, Congress leaders have earlier said the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party does not have moral right to talk about defections as the BRS had admitted MLAs from other parties when it was in power.

BRS had won 39 of the total 119 Assembly constituencies in the elections held last year, while Congress came to power winning 64 seats.

However, BRS MLA from Secunderabad Cantonment G Lasya Nanditha died in a road accident earlier this year. Congress won the recently held by-poll for the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly segment. This led to an increase in its strength to 65.

With the addition of 10 BRS MLAs who crossed over to Congress, its strength rose to 75.