Speaker's notice to 16 rebel MLAs

HYDERABAD: Assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar on Monday issued notices to 16 Congress rebel MLAs seeking their explanation on the complaint lodged by the Congress for violating the whip in the recent no-confidence motion. The MLAs have been given time till December 29 to respond.
Congress whip Kondru Murali had few days ago lodged a complaint with the Speaker against 16 MLAs, G Srikanth Reddy, Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy, K Srinivasulu, A Amarnath Reddy, K Channkesava Reddy, Balineni Srinivas Reddy, Konda Surekha, Kapu Ramachandra Reddy, Dharmana Krishna Das, Pilli Subash Chandrabose, P Ramakrishna Reddy, B Babu Rao B Gurnadha Reddy and M Prasada Raju seeking their disqualification under the provisions of the anti-defection law.
The MLAs violated the whip issued by the Congress and supported the no-confidence motion tabled by the opposition Telugu Desam Party in the Assembly. Another Congress MLA had abstained from voting and the party on its own is likely to take action against him.
Meanwhile, Prajarajyam MLA B Sobha Nagi Reddy, against whom the party has moved a disqualification notice for violating its whip, on Monday met the Speaker and was handed over a copy of the notice. The speaker is said to have given her a week's time to respond to the notice. Emerging from the Speaker's office, Sobha Nagi Reddy said the PRP, which merged with the Congress, had no right to seek her disqualification. "A non-existent party cannot lodge a complaint against me," she said.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Miera Kumar issued a notice to Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, a Congress rebel MP, to appear before her on Tuesday. Reddy resigned from the Lok Sabha and the Congress in protest against the inclusion of YSR's name in the FIR filed by the CBI in a case relating to the assets of Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy.