Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], November 17 : Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president N Ramchander Rao on Monday welcomed the remarks made by the Supreme Court in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs' defection case.
Speaking to ANI, Rao argued that the person elected on a particular symbol must resign before joining a different political party.
"In electoral politics, if the person who gets elected on a particular symbol and has to change the party, he has to resign. That is what our anti-defection law says as per the Tenth Schedule under the Constitution. What the Supreme Court has said is a welcome decision," Rao said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader NV Subhash demanded that Telangana assembly speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar take immediate action to disqualify 10 rebel BRS MLAs who defected to Congress in 2023.
Speaking to ANI, Subhash said that the BJP condemns such floor changes, where MLAs defect from one party to another without first tendering their resignations.
"They had been elected from the BRS party in the 2023 elections, and have defected to the Congress party. The BJP condemns such floor changes. The BJP demands that the Speaker of Telangana take immediate action to disqualify these 10 MLAs, and the Supreme Court has also issued a clear order that this matter should be decided within four weeks. Otherwise, the Supreme Court will take the matter into its own hands," the BJP leader said.
He asserted that the rebel MLAs must resign and face fresh mandates.
"If they have to cross the floor to the other party, they should resign and then get re-elected. If the Congress has the guts, it should ask these 10 MLAs to resign, hold a floor test, and go to the people to ask for a fresh mandate," Subhash said.
The 10 rebel MLAs defected to Congress in 2023 after it won the legislative assembly elections, allowing it to form the ruling government in Telangana.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court issued a stern warning to the Telangana Assembly Speaker and Congress leader Gaddam Prasad Kumar for his failure to timely decide the disqualification pleas filed against 10 BRS MLAs who defected to the ruling party (Congress) in the state.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai directed the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions within one weeks' time and warned of contempt of court proceedings on non-compliance.
"It is for the Speaker to decide, we have already held that he doesn't enjoy constitutional immunity", observed the top court.
The Supreme Court's decision came on a contempt plea filed by BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy against the Telangana Speaker for allegedly not complying with its direction to decide disqualification pleas against the 10 defecting BRS (to Congress) MLAs within three months.
The Court also sought the Speaker's response on Reddy's plea within two weeks' time.
The Court stated that the Speaker's conduct is in gross contempt of the court. It's for the Speaker, whether he wants to decide the matter or face contempt by the court, CJI Gavai added.
The apex court on July 31 had directed the Telangana Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions as expeditiously as possible, and in any case, within a three-month timeframe.
The bench had also directed the Speaker of the Telangana Assembly not to allow any MLA to protract the process of disqualification.
In case any MLA attempts to protract the proceedings, the Speaker is directed to draw an adverse inference against them, the bench had noted in July.