Published Mar 11, 2026 | 11:56 AM ⚊ Updated Mar 11, 2026 | 12:03 PM
Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
Synopsis: Telangana Assembly Speaker dismissed the last two disqualification petitions that were pending against MLAs Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender for allegedly defecting to the ruling Congress from the BRS. The decision came a day before the matter was scheduled to come up again before the Supreme Court.
Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday, 11 March, dismissed the last two disqualification petitions that were pending against MLAs Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender for allegedly defecting to the ruling Congress from the BRS.
The Speaker dismissed the petition against Nagender even though he was the Congress’s candidate in the Secunderabad constituency for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The dismissal brings to a close the anti-defection case filed against 10 legislators originally elected on BRS tickets in the 2023 Assembly elections.
With this order, all the petitions filed by the BRS stand rejected.
The controversy dates back to the political churn that followed the Congress victory in the 2023 Assembly polls.
Soon after the government led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy assumed office in December 2023, several BRS legislators were seen gravitating towards the ruling party. They attended public programmes alongside Congress leaders, expressed support for the government and, in some cases, were appointed to positions such as chairmanships of various bodies.
Alleging that such conduct amounted to “voluntarily giving up” party membership, the BRS leadership moved disqualification petitions against 10 MLAs under the anti-defection provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Apart from Srihari and Nagender, the legislators named in the petitions were Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), M Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), G Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar).
The Speaker dealt with the petitions in stages over the past few months under mounting pressure from the Supreme Court of India, which had repeatedly urged an expeditious decision on the matter.
In December 2025, the Speaker dismissed petitions against five MLAs — Arekapudi Gandhi, Mahipal Reddy, Tellam Venkat Rao, Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy and Prakash Goud — citing a lack of evidence to prove defection. In January 2026, similar petitions against Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Kale Yadaiah were rejected. The plea against Jagtial MLA Sanjay Kumar was dismissed in February, leaving only two cases pending.
Final hearings in the remaining petitions were completed earlier this month. Orders were reserved after arguments concluded, and the Speaker delivered his verdict on Wednesday.
In his ruling, Prasad Kumar observed that there was no conclusive documentary or legally sustainable evidence to show that the MLAs had voluntarily given up their membership of the BRS.
The decision came a day before the matter was scheduled to come up again before the Supreme Court, where petitions relating to delays in deciding the disqualification cases had been pending.
With the dismissal of the last two petitions, all 10 MLAs stand cleared of disqualification, allowing them to continue as members of the Assembly.
For the BRS, the verdict marks a setback, as its attempt to challenge the legislators’ action before the speaker had failed. Now the Opposition party is free to contest the speaker’s decision in the court.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
