Hyderabad, Feb 3 (NationPress) The Speaker of the Telangana Assembly, Gaddam Prasad Kumar, is set to address the disqualification petition against MLA Kadiyam Srihari on Wednesday, February 4.

The Speaker has summoned both Kadiyam Srihari and K.P. Vivekanand, the MLA from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) who filed the petition, to attend the hearing.

As the chairman of the tribunal established under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India, the Speaker will gather evidence on behalf of the petitioner.

Srihari, who previously served as the deputy chief minister, is among ten BRS MLAs who reportedly shifted their allegiance to the ruling Congress party in 2024.

Last year, the Speaker completed hearings regarding disqualification petitions for eight MLAs, ruling on seven cases. He dismissed those petitions, stating that the petitioners did not provide sufficient evidence to prove the MLAs defected to Congress, asserting that all MLAs remain affiliated with BRS.

He has yet to announce the ruling concerning the disqualification plea for MLA Sanjay Kumar.

The hearings for two other MLAs, Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, have not proceeded as they failed to submit responses to the notices issued to them.

The Speaker commenced hearings for Danam Nagender on January 30, but had to postpone the session to February 18 at the request of BJP floor leader A. Maheshwar Reddy, one of the petitioners.

Reddy requested additional time to present his arguments and asked the Speaker to reschedule the hearing until after the municipal elections.

Padi Kaushik Reddy, an MLA from BRS and petitioner, submitted an affidavit to the Speaker, advocating for Nagender’s disqualification. Reddy contended that after being elected on a BRS ticket, Nagender not only joined Congress but also ran for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad on a Congress platform.

In response, Nagender submitted a counter-affidavit, arguing that the complaints were based solely on media reports and requested the Speaker to dismiss the petitions. He, elected from Khairatabad in Hyderabad in 2023, stated that he attended a meeting with Congress in March 2024 in a personal capacity.

The Speaker is now reviewing Nagender's petition following a directive from the Supreme Court, which has granted him two weeks to make a decision regarding the remaining disqualification petitions.

While BRS has raised concerns that the ten MLAs openly aligned with Congress and even occupied Treasury Benches in the Assembly, the MLAs maintain that they only met with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to request funding for the development of their constituencies.