Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Saturday served show cause notices on 18 Congress and the TDP MLAs in response to separate petitions submitted by the two parties seeking their disqualification for defying the whip during the no-confidence motion earlier this month.
The Speaker reportedly gave two weeks’ time to the MLAs to explain why they should not be disqualified. The Congress Legislatuire Party (CLP) and the Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) had submitted separate disqualification petitions against nine MLAs each after the no trust motion.
Interestingly, six of the TDP MLAs had voted in favour of the no-confidence motion, though the party had decided not to back it.
Mr. Harishwar Reddy and Dr. Venugopala Chary are moving closely with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Ch. Ramakotaiah is said to have decided to align with the Congress. All the three had abstained during the no-trust vote attracting disciplinary action.
According to sources, the Speaker would ask the MLAs to appear in person after going through their replies in case he finds them not satisfactory.
It is not known how much time the Speaker would take to dispose of the disqualification petitions but sources said there could be delay in hearing individual petitions, if a member seeks time to appear before him.
This is the second time the Speaker has issued notices on such a large scale. Earlier, 17 Congress MLAs who had voted against the Government during the TDP-sponsored no confidence motion were disqualified.
Congress MLAs
The nine Congress MLAs served notices are: R.V.S.K. Ranga Rao (Bobbili), D.Chandrasekhara Reddy (Kakinada City), A.K.Srinivas (Eluru), Maddala Rajesh Kumar (Chintalapudi), Perni Venkataramaiah (Machilipatnam), Jogi Ramesh (Pedana), Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy (Punganur), Gottipati Ravi Kumar (Addanki) and B.Sivaprasada Reddy (Darsi). All of them are sailing with the YSR Congress Party and had voted against the Congress Government during the no confidence motion.
TDP members
The TDP members facing the prospects of disqualification include: P.Sai Raj (Ichapuram), P. Vanitha (Gopalapuram), Kodali Venkateswara Rao (Gudivada), N.Amarnatha Reddy (Palamner), Praveen Kumar Reddy (Thambalapalle), Y. Balanagi Reddy (Mantralayam), Chinnam Ramakotaiah (Nuzvid), K. Hariswar Reddy (Parigi) and S. Venugopala Rao (Mudhole).
