Hyderabad, Aug 4 (IANS) A group of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs, on Monday, submitted a petition for the disqualification of 10 defected MLAs at the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Telangana Assembly after the Speaker remained unavailable.

The BRS MLAs wanted to give a representation to Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to demand him to implement the Supreme Court order directing him to act on the disqualification petitions.

They claimed that they had taken an appointment but when they reached the Assembly, the Speaker was not available.

As a mark of protest, the BRS MLAs submitted a petition at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Assembly premises.

The MLAs who came to the Assembly to meet the Speaker include T. Srinivas Yadav, Gangula Kamalakar, K.P. Vivekanand, Chinta Prabhakar, Manik Rao, Sudheer Reddy, Kaleru Venkatesh, P. Kaushik Reddy, Anil Jadhav and Mutha Gopal.

Speaking on the occasion, former Minister Gangula Kamalakar said the Supreme Court has made it clear that a decision should be taken within three months on the petitions to disqualify the defected MLAs.

“We are demanding that the Speaker disqualify the MLAs who defected to Congress party,” he added.

Kamalakar said BRS Working President K.T. Rama Rao had spoken to the Speaker and told him that BRS MLAs would meet him.

The Speaker had given the appointment at 11 a.m. but when the BRS MLAs reached there, his office was locked, he added.

“That’s why we have submitted a petition to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue, pleading for protecting democracy.”

The former Minister said they were requesting Speaker Kumar to save democracy by disqualifying the defected MLAs.

The Supreme Court on July 31 directed the Speaker to take a decision in three months on the petitions for disqualification of 10 BRS MLAs.

A division bench led by the Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai pronounced orders on the petitions filed by BRS Working President, other BRS MLAs and BJP floor leader in Assembly, A. Maheshwar Reddy.

The Supreme Court allowed the pleas filed by BRS leaders seeking directions to the Speaker to decide expeditiously the disqualification petitions.

The apex court directed the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions as expeditiously as possible and in any case within a three-month period.

The bench also set aside the order of Telangana High Court that the court can’t set a time limit for the Speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions.

Danam Nagender (Khairatabad constituency), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), M. Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), T. Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), B. Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal) G. Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella) defected to the Congress last year.

–IANS

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