Telangana HC issues notice to Speaker Gaddam Prasad, 2 BRS MLAs in defection case row

Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Thursday issued notices to Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar and two Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs in a plea challenging the dismissal of disqualification proceedings in alleged defection cases.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin directed the Speaker and MLAs Kadiyam Srihari and Sanjay Kumar to file their counter-affidavits. The matter has been posted for further hearing on April 16.

Fresh notices in ongoing defection row

The latest notices come a day after the High Court issued similar directions to the Speaker and seven other MLAs accused of defecting from BRS to the ruling Congress.

Those served notices earlier include Danam Nagender, Arekapudi Gandhi, Kale Yadaiah, T. Prakash Goud, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, and Tellam Venkat Rao. The court asked them to submit counter-affidavits in response to the petitions.

BRS challenges speaker’s rulings

The petitions were filed by BRS MLAs contesting the Speaker’s decisions to dismiss disqualification pleas against 10 legislators. These MLAs were elected on BRS tickets in the 2023 Assembly elections but are alleged to have shifted allegiance to the Congress in 2024.

The BRS argued that the Speaker dismissed the petitions, citing lack of evidence, effectively granting the legislators a “clean chit” despite clear instances of defection.

BJP MLA also moves court

In a related development, the High Court had on March 23 issued notice on a petition filed by BJP MLA A. Maheshwar Reddy challenging the Speaker’s decision in the case of Danam Nagender.

The petitioner contended that Nagender openly joined the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy even contested the Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate.

All petitions clubbed for hearing

The division bench has ordered that all petitions challenging the Speaker’s rulings be tagged together for a comprehensive hearing. The court will take up the batch of cases on April 16.

Timeline of Speaker’s decisions

The Assembly Speaker dismissed disqualification petitions in multiple phases:

March 11: Petitions against Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari rejected

February 4: Petition against Sanjay Kumar dismissed

January 15: Petitions against Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Kale Yadaiah rejected

December 2025: Petitions against five MLAs, including Tellam Venkat Rao and others, dismissed

In all instances, the Speaker ruled that the petitioners failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish defection to the Congress.