Speaker disqualifies 15 rebel MLAs

Hyderabad, June 8 : In a significant and historic decision, Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Saturday disqualified 15 MLAs from the membership of the State Legislative Assembly for defying whips of their respective parties during No Confidence Motion in March. Of 15 disqualifed MLAs, nine belonged to the Congress party and six were from TDP.

The Congress MLAs who are disqualified are Jogi Ramesh (Pedana), Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy (Punganur), Chandrasekhar Reddy (Kakinada), Maddali Rajesh Kumar (Chintalapudi), Perni Nani (Machilipatnam), Alla Nani (Eluru), Sujayakrishna Ranga Rao (Bobbili), Ravikumar(Addanki) and Buchepalli Sivaprasada Reddy(Darsi). The disqualified TDP MLAs are Amaranatha Reddy (Palamaneru), Praveenkumar Reddy (Thamballapalli), Kodali Nani (Gudivada), Sairaj (Ichhapuram), Taneti Vanitha(Gopalapuram) and Balanagireddy (Manthralayam).

During the disqualification procedure, almost all the MLAs told the Speaker that they had defied the whip intentionally and want to be disqualified. As many as 14 MLAs have joined the YSR Congress party later.

It is not yet known whether these 15 constituencies would go for by-elections as the Election Commission rules do not allow for polls if the tenure of the House is less than a year. INN