Hyderabad: Telangana assembly speaker G Prasad Kumar on Wednesday dismissed the petition seeking disqualification of BRS MLA from Jagtial, M Sanjay Kumar, ruling that there was no evidence to show that the legislator had switched loyalties to the ruling
Congress after it came to power in Dec 2023.
The speaker had completed both oral and written arguments in Sanjay Kumar's case and reserved the order a month ago. In his ruling, he concluded that the material placed on record did not establish defection as defined under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
Explaining his decision, the speaker, who functions as the tribunal chairman for disqualification cases, said that upon examination of the petitions, consideration of the material on record, and after strictly adhering to the principles of natural justice by granting adequate opportunity to all parties concerned, and upon assessing the merits of the cases, the petitions were dismissed.
BRS working president KT Rama Rao said the manner in which the speaker has been consistently rejecting defection pleas is a blow to the Constitution.
Sanjay Kumar is the eighth MLA among the 10 BRS legislators who faced disqualification petitions on defection charges. Over the past two months, the speaker has dismissed petitions against eight MLAs, following directions from the Supreme Court to dispose of the cases within stipulated timelines. The court had initially told the speaker to decide the cases within three months. On Jan 17, the judges had set a deadline of two weeks.
Petitions involving two more MLAs — Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur) and Danam Nagender (Khairatabad) — are yet to be decided.
The BRS MLAs against whom disqualification petitions were earlier dismissed include Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), B Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally) and Sanjay Kumar.
Though the speaker was scheduled to hear arguments in the case of Srihari on Wednesday, the hearing was adjourned to Feb 19 in view of the ongoing municipal elections. Last week, the speaker had postponed the hearing of the disqualification petitions against Nagender, filed by BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy and BJP legislator Alleti Maheshwar Reddy.
MLAs' claim
All the BRS MLAs facing disqualification proceedings have consistently maintained that they did not defect or formally join the Congress. They said they met chief minister A Revanth Reddy only to seek funds for development works in their constituencies and had neither resigned from the party nor severed ties with the BRS. Nagender, in his defence, stated that he attended a Congress party meeting in his personal capacity.
The disqualification petitions arose after some of the BRS MLAs were seen sharing public platforms with Congress leaders following the party's victory in the Dec 2023 assembly elections. The developments triggered complaints of defection under the anti-defection law, prompting legal scrutiny and intervention by the Supreme Court, which had repeatedly directed the speaker to decide the cases within fixed timelines.
Quthbullapur MLA KP Vivekanand, petitioner in the disqualification case against Station Ghanpur MLA Kadiyam Srihari, said that although the Supreme Court had set Feb 6 as the deadline to dispose of the petitions, the speaker adjourned the hearing at the request of Srihari's counsel. "The BJP is protecting the Congress party in these disqualification cases of defected MLAs. Why did Maheshwar Reddy (BJP MLA) not attend the hearing in Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender case?" he asked.
Vivekanand said even Congress leader Jeevan Reddy had questioned how Jagtial BRS MLA M Sanjay Kumar had attended a party meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, asking whether this was not evidence. He also pointed out that Nagender contested the Lok Sabha elections as a Congress candidate, but the speaker was delaying the case without disqualifying him.
Speaker's ruling murder of democracy, says KTR
While speaker G Prasad Kumar has maintained that there is no legally admissible evidence of defection, the BRS has accused the Congress govt of shielding defectors to avoid by-elections, an issue that has gained political traction amid the ongoing municipal polls.
Reacting sharply, BRS working president called the speaker's ruling a ‘murder of democracy'. In a post on X, KTR said: "Despite clear photos and videos showing the CM himself draping a scarf around Jagtial BRS MLA Sanjay and inducting him into Congress, dismissing the disqualification petition citing lack of evidence is unreasonable. Ignoring both the Supreme Court's verdict and the people's mandate, and acting according to the chief minister's orders without taking constitutional action against the defecting MLAs, is a murder of democracy."
KTR alleged that granting a clean chit to the MLA during the ongoing municipal elections in Jagtial, where Congress leader Jeevan Reddy is gaining momentum, had tarnished the dignity of the speaker's office. "It has become evident that the Congress, still reeling from the severe setback in the panchayat elections, is afraid of by-elections. The Revanth govt is clearly shaken by the widespread anger among urban residents over the chief minister's failures and deceptions during the municipal elections. The chief minister's grotesque political game, where 10 BRS MLAs defect in broad daylight without any action taken against them, will inevitably face consequences in the public arena," KTR added.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Jeevan Reddy said Sanjay Kumar, who claims he continues to be a BRS MLA, should focus on his own party rather than involve himself in Congress party affairs in the assembly constituency.
Former MLC K Kavitha also criticised the speaker's decision, pointing out that Sanjay Kumar had participated in a Congress party meeting at Gandhi Bhavan, which, she said, clearly established that he had defected to the Congress.