Speaker should act against Danam immediately : Vinod Kumar

The Supreme Court has ordered the Maharashtra Speaker to take a decision in the case of Eknath Shinde Group MLAs who left the Shiv Sena without any delay.

Hyderabad: BRS leader and former MP B. Vinod Kumar on Monday appealed to the Speaker of the State Legislate Assembly, G Prasad Kumar to act immediately on the disqualification petition submitted by the party against its MLA Danam Nagender for violation of the Anti- defection.

Addressing a news conference at Telangana Bhavan, he said the courts of law had made amply clear that the speaker should act in case of such instances without any lapse of time.

---

The anti defection law was added to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule in 1985 for discouraging legislators from changing parties. The Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, who joined the Congress, will not be able to avoid disqualification.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Maharashtra Speaker to take a decision in the case of Eknath Shinde Group MLAs who left the Shiv Sena without any delay.

Nagender was deemed to have lost his membership in the Legislative Assembly the moment he was inducted into the Congress party by the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy by offering him the tri-colour scarf of his Party.

The MLA who shifted his loyalties ceases to be eligible for pay he was entitled to as a member of the house. It is now for the speaker to take a quick decision and uphold the constitutional provisions.

The BRS had lost the election with narrow margins. “We did not expect any of our MLAs to shift loyalties to the Congress. But unfortunately Danam Nagender had opted to join the Congress.

What the elected representative would stand to gain by shifting loyalties, he questioned. One should welcome to work in the opposition as an opportunity, he quipped.

He said the Congress leaders should not encourage defection if they have any respect for Rajiv Gandhi, who proposed anti-defection bill in the Parliament and both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously approved the bill in 1985.