BRS petitions Speaker for disqualification of Danam
A day after its legislator (MLA) from Khairatabad Danam Nagender switched loyalties to the ruling Congress party, the Bharat Rasthra Samithi (BRS) has formally lodged a petition with Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar seeking the disqualification of the former.
A delegation of the BRS comprising MLAs Kaleru Venkatesh Yadav, Mutha Gopal, Padi Kaushik Reddy and Bandari Laxma Reddy and others went to the residence of the Speaker in the MLAs’ Quarters after taking prior appointment and submitted a petition seeking the disqualification of Mr. Nagender.
Speaking after meeting the Speaker, Mr. Kaushik Reddy said the Speaker had assured them that he would examine the petition and take necessary action.
The BRS MLA said keeping such petitions on hold was not possible now following a recent judgement of the Supreme Court in which the Apex Court had suggested the heads of the legislative bodies to dispose of such petitions within three months after receiving petition from the party concerned.
Mr. Kaushik Reddy mentioned that Chief Minister
A. Revanth Reddy, in his capacity as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief in the past, had stated that those who shift loyalties to another party after getting elected on the ticket of one party should be stoned to death. The BRS would not believe in such action but would believe in the constitutional systems in the country.
Mr. Nagender was with the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the past and in 2018 he quit as Greater Hyderabad Congress unit president and joined BRS and was elected to the Assembly twice on BRS ticket in 2018 and 2023.
‘Cannot be delayed’
Senior leader of BRS and former MP B. Vinod Kumar has observed that Danam Nagender cannot escape disqualification thanks to
the recent Supreme Court judgement. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said the presiding officers of legislative bodies were not supposed to delay decisions in such matters as in the past and the Supreme Court had given clear instructions to the Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly to take a decision on the Eknath Shinde group MLAs of Shiv Sena.
As the courts had fixed timelines for decisions, the presiding officers could not sit over such matters, Mr. Vinod Kumar said, adding that Mr. Nagender’s membership of the Assembly would be deemed to be annulled from the moment he sported the party scarf of the Congress. It was for the Speaker now to respect the Constitution and the Supreme Court judgement and take a decision at the earliest.