Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker on Saturday dismissed the two petitions filed by lone opposition YSR Congress seeking disqualification of 13 of its MLAs for having defected to the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), saying they did not comply with rules.
“The disqualification petitions were examined under para 2(1) of the Tenth Schedule read with Article 191(2) of the Constitution of India and rule 6 of Members of AP Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of defection) Rules, 1986.
“The petitions did not comply with rules 6 and 7 of Members of AP Legislative Assembly (disqualification on ground of defection) Rules, 1986. In view of the non-compliance of rules 6 and 7, I dismiss the petitions since they are void ab initio,” Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao announced at a press conference here this afternoon.
While one petition was filed by the then YSRC whip N Amarnath Reddy against 11 MLAs, the second was submitted by MLA Md Mustafa Sheikh against two others. “The petitions are ‘void ab initio’ (having no validity) as they (petitioners) did not follow the rules,” the Speaker said. In all, 20 MLAs of the Jaganmohan Reddy-led party crossed over to TDP between February 22 and June 16 this year.
The YSRC first filed one petition on March 5 seeking disqualification of eight MLAs who had defected till then. On April 30, the second petition was filed adding eight other names (total 16). The third petition was filed on June 9 against two more legislators.
Interestingly, YSRC whip Amarnath Reddy, who filed the first petition against the defectors, became the 20th legislator to cross over on June 16. Meanwhile, a senior YSRC leader said the party would hold an emergency meeting on July 4 to discuss the issue. “We will seek legal opinion as well as the opinion of constitutional experts and file a fresh petition seeking disqualification of all the 20 MLAs who jumped over to the TDP,” the YSRC leader said.
Sakshi media, the mouthpiece of YSRC, quoted Public Accounts Committee Chairman and party member Buggana Rajendranath Reddy as saying the Speaker took the decision without hearing the petitioners. “We submitted all material evidence against the defectors. It’s inappropriate to dismiss the petitions on technical grounds,” Rajendranath was quoted as saying.
YSRC MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a directive to the Assembly Speaker to act against the defectors.
“The petition is due to come up for hearing on July 8 and hence the Speaker hurriedly came out with a decision today. Why did the Speaker delay his decision if the petitions were not in the right format?” he questioned.
Rajendranath said the YSRC would file fresh petitions with the Speaker in the proper format. Incidentally, the petition filed by Rajendranath against some of the defectors is yet to be disposed off by the Speaker. (PTI)
