Telangana Assembly session: Revanth Reddy downplays bypolls, Harish Rao calls out constitutional breach

CM says past governments inducted defected MLAs into Cabinet without facing bypolls and that his government was following the same tradition; Harish raises a point of order and questioning legality of discussing a case that was pending before Supreme Court

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s remarks in the Telangana Assembly on Wednesday, dismissing the possibility of by-elections for the constituencies represented by 10 turncoat MLAs, triggered a fresh political debate.

His claim that bypolls never took place under previous governments because of defections and would not happen now was met with strong objection from senior BRS MLA T Harish Rao, who charged him with disregarding constitutional provisions and judicial authority.

---

In an attempt to dismiss the possibility of bypolls during the reply in the Assembly on Wednesday, Revanth Reddy said the past precedents suggested that bypolls would not be necessary. He pointed out that the past governments inducted defected MLAs into the Cabinet without facing by-elections and that his government was following the same tradition.

When Harish pointed out that the matter, of disqualifying turncoat MLAs, was pending in the Supreme Court, Revanth Reddy claimed that Assembly immunity allowed him to speak on sub-judice matters within the House.

However, Harish was quick to counter, raising a point of order and questioning the legality of discussing a case that was currently pending before the Supreme Court. He cited legislative rules and Article 121 of the Constitution, which bar discussions on pending judicial matters in the legislature unless it pertains to a judge’s removal.

“The Chief Minister claims this House has immunity, allowing him to discuss Supreme Court matters. But Page 1021 of the Legislative Rules clearly states that pending cases cannot be debated in the House,” he reminded the Speaker, adding that both the Parliament and judiciary were under constitutional obligations and could not encroach upon each others’ jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy justified his meetings with the defected MLAs, claiming that his meetings with MLAs from various parties were purely for the development of their constituencies. However, the photographs and videos were being published in the media misinterpreting them as political defections, he claimed.