Hyderabad: Assembly speaker G Prasad Kumar will take up the hearing of the disqualification petition against Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender on Dec 30, setting the stage for a key decision following a stern directive from the Supreme Court.The schedule was fixed after the apex court gave the speaker two weeks to decide on petitions involving two BRS MLAs, part of a larger batch of 10 legislators accused of defecting to the Congress. The court described its order as a final warning to the speaker. The speaker will hear two petitions—one filed by BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy and the other by BJP floor leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy—and record evidence during the proceedings. Nagender is the only MLA among those named who sought additional time to respond to the speaker’s notices on the disqualification pleas. On multiple occasions, Nagender has publicly stated that he would resign and contest the ensuing by-election if asked to do so by the Congress or chief minister A Revanth Reddy. Elected on a BRS ticket from Khairatabad in the 2023 assembly elections, Nagender later contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket. So far, the speaker has dismissed disqualification petitions against eight of the 10 MLAs—Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), M Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), and Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada)—stating that there was no material to establish their defection to other political parties. Kadiyam’s pleaAt present, only one petition, against Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), remains pending. Srihari had earlier informed the speaker that he had not switched loyalties to the Congress and continued to be a member of the BRS. The disqualification petitions were filed last year by several BRS MLAs, including KP Vivekananda, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, Kalvakuntla Sanjay, Chinta Prabhakar, Kaushik Reddy, and G Jagadish Reddy. With no decision forthcoming initially, the BRS first approached the high court and later moved the Supreme Court, leading to the present timeline fixed by the apex court.
