The Speaker reportedly held that there was a lack of sufficient evidence to establish that the legislators had formally joined the Congress.
Published Dec 17, 2025 | 5:01 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 17, 2025 | 6:22 PM
![[LTR] Arekapudi Gandhi, Tellam Venkat Rao, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, Gudem Mahipal Reddy, T Prakash Goud.](https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media.thesouthfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/BRS-MLAs.jpg "BRS MLAs")
[LTR] Arekapudi Gandhi, Tellam Venkat Rao, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, Gudem Mahipal Reddy, T Prakash Goud.
Synopsis: Telangana Assembly Speaker G Prasad Kumar has rejected a plea by the BRS seeking the disqualification of five of its MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress after the 2023 Assembly elections. The decision, concerning MLAs Tellam Venkat Rao, Arekapudi Gandhi, Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy, TP Prakash Goud and Gudem Mahipal Reddy, comes after the Supreme Court had earlier warned the Speaker of contempt proceedings if a decision was not made.
Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday, 17 December, rejected a plea by the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) seeking the disqualification of five of its MLAs who had shifted allegiance to the ruling Congress after the 2023 Assembly elections.
The decision relates to MLAs Tellam Venkat Rao, Arekapudi Gandhi, Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy, TP Prakash Goud and Gudem Mahipal Reddy. It came after the Speaker heard arguments from both the BRS and the concerned MLAs over multiple sessions held during the past few months.
The Speaker reportedly held that the evidence placed before him failed to prove that the MLAs had “voluntarily given up” their party membership, the key legal threshold under the anti-defection law enshrined in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The order was issued within the timeline fixed by the Supreme Court, which on 17 November directed the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions within four weeks.
The apex court had earlier expressed displeasure over the delay in adjudicating the pleas filed by BRS leaders, warning that the Speaker could face contempt of court.
“Either this (disqualification petitions) have to be decided by next month or the Speaker faces contempt. We have already said he (the Speaker) does not enjoy constitutional immunity while acting as a tribunal under the Tenth Schedule. It is up to him to decide where he wants to spend on the New Year’s day,” the then Chief Justice BR Justice Gavai had ruled.
The controversy has its roots in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, when the Congress stormed to power with 64 seats in the 119-member House, unseating the BRS, which was reduced to 39 seats after nearly a decade in office.
What followed was a steady trickle, and then a rush, of BRS MLAs gravitating towards the ruling party, particularly during March and April 2024.
As many as 10 BRS legislators were accused by their party of defecting to the Congress. The BRS moved the Speaker with disqualification petitions against the MLAs, alleging that their conduct amounted to voluntary abandonment of party membership.
The MLAs named in the petitions include Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), M Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Arikepudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada) and Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam).
Following the Supreme Court’s observations, the Speaker initiated hearings on the petitions and summoned the 10 MLAs. Eight of them attended the proceedings, which included examination and cross-examination by the petitioners and respondents on the documentary and other evidence submitted in support of the disqualification pleas.
During the hearings, the MLAs maintained that they had met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Ministers only to seek redressal of issues in their respective constituencies. The petitioners, however, submitted documentary and video evidence to support their claim that the legislators had defected to the Congress.
A decision on the petitions concerning MLAs M Sanjay Kumar, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Kale Yadaiah, who also attended the hearings, is expected to be announced soon.
Two MLAs—Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari—are yet to respond to the notices issued by the Speaker. They have reportedly sought more time to do so, even as there is speculation that they may resign.
Meanwhile, the petition filed by the BRS in the Supreme Court seeking early disposal of the disqualification cases is scheduled to come up for hearing on December 19. The party is also likely to challenge the Speaker’s verdict in the High Court.
The alleged defections were neither quiet nor subtle. Danam Nagender, after winning on a BRS ticket from the Khairatabad Assembly constituency in 2023, unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket.
Kadiyam Srihari openly campaigned for his daughter, a Congress candidate, in Warangal in the Lok Sabha polls. Several others were seen sharing platforms with Congress leaders and staying conspicuously away from BRS meetings and programmes.
In the case of most MLAs, the official social media handles of the Telangana Congress announced their joining the party after their meetings with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on different occasions.
The MLAs, however, have consistently denied defecting. Their defence, echoed during the Speaker’s inquiry, was that meeting Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy or participating in government programmes did not amount to joining the Congress.
They argued that such interactions were necessitated by constituency development needs and did not signify abandonment of the BRS.
It was this argument that appears to have found favour with the Speaker in Wednesday’s order. In dismissing the petitions against the five MLAs, Prasad Kumar concluded that mere attendance at government events or interactions with Congress leaders, in the absence of a formal resignation or explicit declaration of allegiance, could not be construed as defection under the law.
Reacting to the Speaker’s verdict, BRS leader Dr Manne Krishank accused the speaker of bringing shame to the Constitution.
“Honorouable Assembly Speaker, You have put Constitution to shame, You have let down Dr BR Ambedkar, You have fooled the people of Telangana, You have acted as Congress leader. The defected MLAs have on media declared that they had joined the Congress,” he wrote in a post on X.
“Congress official X handle tweeted the joining. You have closed your eyes to see evidence and deliver justice.”
The Speaker’s handling of the disqualification petitions has itself come under intense judicial scrutiny.
Alleging deliberate delay, the BRS approached the Telangana High Court, where initial orders by a single judge were later stayed or diluted by a division bench. Dissatisfied, the party moved the Supreme Court.
In a stinging order on 31 July 2025, the apex court set aside the High Court division bench ruling and castigated the delay in deciding the petitions, warning against a situation akin to “operation successful, patient dead.”
The court directed the Speaker to conclude proceedings against all 10 MLAs within three months, underscoring that Speakers, while acting as quasi-judicial authorities under the Tenth Schedule, do not enjoy immunity from judicial review.
The court also flagged a systemic problem, urging Parliament to reconsider the anti-defection law in light of repeated instances where Speakers allegedly sit over disqualification petitions, thereby defeating the law’s very purpose.
Despite the deadline expiring in late October, the Speaker sought extensions, including an eight-week window, citing procedural requirements.
The delays prompted the BRS to file contempt petitions, increasing the pressure. On 17 November, the Supreme Court delivered another sharp rebuke, warning the Speaker of “gross contempt” and granting him limited additional time to conclude the process.
In the weeks that followed, the Speaker issued fresh notices, particularly to Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari, both of whom sought additional time to respond. While hearings were completed in respect of eight MLAs, a verdict was delivered in respect of only five of them.
With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments on 19 December on the BRS plea seeking a direction to the Speaker to decide all pending petitions, uncertainty hangs over the fate of the remaining cases.
A ruling disqualifying any of the five remaining MLAs would trigger by-elections and potentially reopen political fault lines across Telangana.
Conversely, dismissal of some of the remaining petitions would consolidate the Congress’s numerical strength in the Assembly and deal a severe blow to the BRS’s efforts to reclaim political ground.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
