Disqualify Rebel MLCs Immediately: Congress

The Telangana Congress Legislature Party on Monday urged Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud to take action against the nine Congress MLCs who had defected to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

The Congress MLCs, including CLP leader D Srinivas, Deputy Leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, M Ranga Reddy, Farooq Hussain and M S Prabhakar Rao, on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Chairman stating that no action had been taken on the disqualification petitions filed by them in July 2014 against the nine MLCs under the Anti-Defection Law.

"The tenure of eight of the nine MLCs who defected from the Congress is coming to an end this March. Any further delay, we fear, may cause a great damage to the spirit of the Anti-Defection Law," they said.

Speaking to media persons, Prabha, Farooq Hussain and Ranga Reddy said that although the High Court did not interfere with the proceedings of the case, its final order clearly suggested that the Chairman was totally authoritized to take a decision on the matter according to the law.

"We appealed to the Chairman to dispose of the appeal petition and disqualify all those members who had defected from the party without any further loss of time. Such an action will only embellish the stature of the Chair and enhance the grace of the Chairman," they said.

They said inaction by the Chairman would set a bad precedent across the country. (INN)