SC cracks whip on Telangana speaker

The Supreme Court on Friday gave a final opportunity to the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly to decide the remaining disqualification petitions against MLAs who defected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the ruling Congress party.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and A.G. Masih directed the Speaker to “positively” decide on the pending petitions within three weeks.

“We expect the Speaker to positively take a decision, failing which we shall proceed to issue contempt,” the Justice Karol-led Bench ordered.

The apex court was hearing contempt petitions arising out of non-compliance with its July 31, 2025, order, by which it had granted three months to the Speaker to decide the disqualification pleas against 10 BRS MLAs who allegedly crossed over to the Congress.

In December last year, following stern observations from the apex court, the Speaker rejected seven of the 10 petitions. However, three petitions continued to remain pending. When the matter was taken up on January 16, the Speaker sought an adjournment of two weeks, which the Supreme Court granted on the assurance that there would be some development in the matter.

On Friday, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi informed the Justice Karol-led Bench that a decision had been taken in one of the remaining cases and submitted that the Speaker was on the verge of deciding the other two.

However, the request was opposed by counsel appearing for one of the petitioners, who contended that the Speaker had repeatedly sought adjournments.

Taking note of the submission that a decision had been taken in one case, the apex court considered it appropriate to grant limited additional time. The dispute stems from the defection of 10 BRS MLAs -- including Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, and Tellam Venkat Rao -- who joined the Congress in 2023 following its return to power in Telangana.

In an order passed on July 31, the Supreme Court had directed the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions “as expeditiously as possible and in any case within three months”, also setting aside a Telangana High Court ruling that no time limit could be imposed on the Speaker.

Danam Nagender (Khairatabad constituency), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Kadiyam Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), M. Sanjay Kumar (Jagtial), Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), T. Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), B. Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), G. Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), and Kale Yadaiah (Chevella) defected to the Congress party.