Hyderabad, March 11 – The BJP in Telangana has described the judgment of Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar as a mockery of the Constitution, dismissing petitions seeking to disqualify BRS MLAs who had defected to the ruling Congress party.
State BJP president, N. Ramchander Rao, called Wednesday's verdict on the petitions against Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari as "an absolute mockery of the Constitution."
In a post on ‘X’, Ramchander Rao also criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"The ruling delivered today by the Telangana Speaker in the MLA defection case is a stark example of the kind of respect for the Constitution that RG often claims to champion," wrote the BJP chief.
"Consider the case of Danam Nagender: He was elected to the Telangana Assembly in December 2023 as a candidate of the BRS. Shortly thereafter, he switched to the INC and even contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress candidate.
"Such an obvious act should have resulted in his disqualification. Yet, the Speaker delayed delivering a verdict for an extraordinarily long time. When the decision finally came today, the conclusion was startling: Danam Nagender continues to be treated as a BRS MLA!!!!!! Congress has insulted and made a mockery of Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution," wrote Ramchander Rao.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, also criticized the Speaker's ruling.
"With due respect to Hon'ble Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad garu, a simple search on the Internet would have provided ample evidence regarding defection cases. Didn't these MLAs leave their party and join Congress? Didn't the Chief Minister himself publicly endorse their switch to Congress? Didn't Congress provide a B-Form to the defected candidate to contest in the Lok Sabha elections?" asked Bandi Sanjay.
The BJP leader also questioned whether there was no evidence simply because senior BJP leader and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy had won the election from the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.
Nagender had contested as a Congress candidate from Secunderabad in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"If all this happened in front of the entire state… how did the defection suddenly disappear on paper? The people of Telangana already feel that Congress stands for injustice, not justice. If defections are allowed without questioning, what message are we sending? Is this not a mockery of the Constitution? Is this not a mockery of democracy?," asked Bandi Sanjay, who also posted a screenshot from the Election Commission of India's website, declaring Nagender's nomination as a Congress candidate in the Lok Sabha elections as accepted.