Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar has handed a clean chit to two BRS MLAs, rejecting Congress’s bids to declare them disqualified. The dismissals of petitions against P Kaushik Reddy and G Mahipal Reddy underscore the complexities of enforcing anti-defection rules in India’s vibrant democracy.
Background to the saga traces back to the Lok Sabha elections, where the MLAs were accused of crossing over to support Congress nominees, defying BRS directives. Congress approached the Speaker citing the 10th Schedule, demanding their removal from the assembly. Hearings spanned weeks, with lawyers presenting affidavits, video clips, and witness testimonies on both sides.
Delivering his judgment, Speaker Prasad dissected each allegation threadbare. He noted that while the MLAs’ actions were controversial, they fell short of legal defection criteria—no house voting against the party whip, no formal resignation from BRS. ‘Disqualification is a serious step not to be invoked lightly,’ he remarked, prioritizing procedural sanctity over political rhetoric.
The BRS camp erupted in joy, with leaders like T Harish Rao decrying Congress’s ‘desperate measures to engineer numerical superiority.’ Ruling party spokespersons countered that the Speaker’s leniency exposes BRS’s internal fractures. This is the third such rejection in recent months, signaling a Speaker reluctant to wield the disqualification axe liberally.
Looking ahead, the verdict may embolden fence-sitters in other parties and prompt legislative tweaks to anti-defection laws. In Telangana’s high-stakes political chessboard, it maintains the current balance of power while reminding all that constitutional guardrails still hold sway. As alliances shift, eyes remain on the courts for any escalations.