Hyderabad: Telangana Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Friday, January 30, deferred the disqualification hearing of Khairtabad MLA Danam Nagendar to February 18 after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy asked for an adjournment, citing municipal elections.
Disqualification petitions were filed against Danam Nagendar by both Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and BJP, alleging that he had switched his loyalties to the Congress after being elected on a BRS ticket in the 2023 Assembly elections.
They said the fact that Nagendar contested for the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat in 2024 on a Congress ticket as proof of his defection.
According to reports, Maheshwar Reddy asked for the hearing to be postponed to February 20, citing that he is busy campaigning for the Telangana municipal elections. The results will be declared on February 13.
Meanwhile, BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy, who had filed the petition against Danam Nagender, alleged a nexus between the BJP and Congress after the BJP MLA failed to show up for the hearing.
“Once again, it has come to light that Congress and BJP are the same. BJP MLA Maheshwar Reddy has also filed a petition seeking the disqualification of the MLA, Danam Nagender, who was lured away by the party. But today, he did not show up for the hearing! This makes it crystal clear that there is match-fixing between Congress and BJP in the state,” Padi Kaushik Reddy said.
On the other hand, Nagender asserted he has not resigned from the BRS, and has not received any information about the party suspending him.
He maintained that he attended a meeting of the Congress party in March 2024 in his personal capacity.
The Speaker has 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 Congress. He said all the MLAs are technically still in the BRS.
Last year, Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar completed the hearing on the petitions for the disqualification of eight MLAs and reserved the orders. He is yet to pronounce the order on the plea for the disqualification of MLA Sanjay Kumar.
The hearing 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.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Saleha Fatima | 
