Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar today issued notices to 16 rebel MLAs of the ruling Congress to respond by December 29 to the petitions seeking their disqualification.
Congress filed the petitions on December 12 seeking disqualification of 16 of its MLAs for defying the party whip and voting in support of Telugu Desam Party’s no-confidence motion against the Government in the Assembly on December 5.
These MLAs have been sailing with YSR Congress of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for several months now. They have been stating that they are ready to face the axe and go for by-elections.
The Speaker visited New Delhi recently to study how the then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee disposed of the disqualification petitions against MPs in 2008.
Manohar also consulted constitutional experts to elicit their views on the issue as the current case in AP is said to be the first-of-its-kind in legislature history, where a ruling party is seeking disqualification of so many MLAs.
The MLAs are: Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Konda Surekha (all former Ministers), Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy (brother of Nellore MP Rajamohan Reddy), Dharmana Krishna Das (brother of AP Minister D Prasada Rao), M Sucharita, Amarnatha Reddy, T Balaraju, G Babu Rao, G Srikanth Reddy, Kapu Ramachandra Reddy, Srinivasulu, Prasada Raju, Gurunath Reddy, Chennakesava Reddy and P Ramakrishna Reddy.
Meanwhile, Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) rebel MLA P Sobha Nagi Reddy today sought a week’s time to give a clarification on the disqualification petition moved against her.
Accordingly, the Speaker gave her time till December 27 to present her case, Legislature sources said. Sobha, who voted in favour of the motion, met the Speaker in response to a notice issued by him.(PTI)
