Hyderabad, Jan 28 (IANS) Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar will conduct the hearing on January 30 on the petition for disqualification of MLA Danam Nagender who was elected on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket but allegedly shifted loyalties to the ruling Congress party.

The Speaker has issued a notice to Nagender, directing him to appear for hearing. BRS MLA Kaushik Reddy, who had submitted the disqualification petition, has also been summoned for hearing.

The Speaker will also conduct hearing on the same day on the petition submitted by BJP floor leader in the Assembly A. Maheshwar Reddy for disqualification of Nagender.

Meanwhile, Nagender said that he has filed an affidavit, urging the Speaker to dismiss the disqualification petition.

The former minister said he has not resigned from the BRS and he has also not received any information about the party suspending him.

Nagender, who was elected as BRS candidate from Khairatabad constituency in Hyderabad in 2023, said he attended a meeting of Congress party in March 2024 in his personal capacity.

The Speaker has also already dismissed the petitions to disqualify seven out of 10 BRS MLAs who had allegedly defected to the Congress in 2024.

He ruled that the petitioners failed to provide evidence that the MLAs defected to the Congress. He said all the MLAs are technically still in the BRS.

The Speaker last year completed the hearing on the petitions for the disqualification of eight MLAs and reserved the orders.

The Speaker is yet to pronounce the order on the plea for the disqualification of MLA Sanjay Kumar.

The hearing on the disqualification of two other MLAs, Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari could not be taken up as they had not submitted their replies to the notices served on them.

While the BRS complained that these MLAs openly joined the Congress and even sat in the Treasury Benches in the Assembly, the MLAs denied that they joined the ruling party. They contended that they only met Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to seek funds for the development of their constituencies.

The BRS brought to the notice of the Speaker that Nagender not only joined the Congress but also contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket. It also alleged that Srihari openly campaigned for his daughter Kadiyam Kaviya, who contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Warangal constituency as the Congress candidate.

–IANS

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