Hyderabad, Sep 18 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Telangana unit on Friday welcomed the High Court verdict disqualifying MLA Danam Nagender, who defected from the BRS party to the Congress, and demanded that all defected MLAs resign and seek a fresh mandate.
State BJP president N. Ramchander Rao said the High Court order delivered in favour of the petition filed by BJP Floor Leader in Assembly, Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and setting aside the Speaker’s earlier decision marks a significant victory on moral, legal, and constitutional grounds.
“How justifiable is it for Rahul Gandhi—who frequently carries a copy of the Constitution—to allow the 10th Schedule and the Anti-Defection Law (introduced by his own father) to be so blatantly disregarded?” asked Ramchander Rao in a post on X.
The state BJP chief alleged that the Congress government is perpetuating the same culture of defections that the previous BRS government engaged in. “This verdict serves as a stinging rebuke to the Congress party. The High Court’s ruling makes it clear that the Congress party has suffered both a moral and legal defeat,” he said.
He demanded that, respecting democracy and the Constitution, all MLAs who defected immediately resign from their posts and seek a fresh mandate from the people by facing elections.
Welcoming the High Court order, Maheshwar Reddy said the High Court’s verdict is a victory for the BJP’s struggle in the courts to uphold democracy. “The court has rejected the Speaker’s attempts to shield Danam Nagender, who contested as an MP after winning on one party’s ticket and subsequently joining another. This verdict deserves to be written in golden letters in the history of our democracy,” he said.
Maheshwar Reddy alleged that by encouraging such defections, the Congress party is making a mockery of democracy. It is high time the Congress party come to its senses, he remarked.
“We believe that justice has prevailed. If Congress leaders truly respect democracy, they should, instead of approaching the Supreme Court, immediately have Nagender and all other defecting MLAs resign and face the electorate directly. We will also file a caveat regarding this matter by tomorrow,” he added.
Nagender was among 10 BRS MLAs who had switched loyalties to the Congress party in 2024. Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar had dismissed the petitions filed by BRS and BJP MLAs for disqualification of MLAs on the ground that the petitioners had failed to provide evidence that these MLAs defected to the Congress party.
The petitioners challenged the Speaker’s decision in the High Court.
On two petitions pertaining to Nagender, the High Court on Friday pronounced its order.
–IANS
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