The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Apex court on TRS rebels issue

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Apex court on TRS rebels issue

Court while disposing of a petition hopes that Speaker will give his order soon

Ticklish issue: Rebel TRS legislators Mandadi Satyanarayana Reddy and Dugyala Srinivasa Rao

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of the petition of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) seeking disqualification of its rebel MLAs by expressing the hope that Assembly Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy would give his order on the party’s application expeditiously.

A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan passed the order after the court was informed that the Speaker had reserved his verdict on the application seeking disqualification of the rebels. Soli J. Sorabjee appeared on behalf of the petitioners.

Speaker’s decision

Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy will announce his decision on disqualification of the rebel TRS legislators after the ongoing Assembly session.

“I will announce my verdict on the disqualification once the monsoon session concludes on September 6. Hearings in the case are over and the two sides have submitted written arguments too,” he told The Hindu on Friday, after the Supreme Court asked the Speaker to take a final decision on the issue.

No trust motions

“I was abroad during the last few days and the session is in progress now because of which I could not take a decision. The information has already been passed on to the TRS members,” he said.

Reacting to the no trust motions served by the TDP and TRS, he said these were unlikely to be taken up during the current session.

He held discussions with the floor leaders of the two parties on Friday morning and explained that a 14-day notice was mandatory for tabling the motion.

“I want the no confidence motion to come up before the Assembly at the earliest. But, the notice was served after the BAC decided to run the House till September 6,” he said, adding he had asked the parties to explore options, if any, for ensuring that the issue came up in this session itself. E. Rajender, TRS floor leader, hoped that the Speaker would deliver his judgment on the disqualification as the Supreme Court had asked him to dispose of the matter. The party would urge him to react in tune with the spirit of the order He said the party had approached the apex court as there was no response to the appeal seeking disqualification of the rebels, who were “lured” by the Congress.

Hearing in the case was completed on May 4, but the judgment was yet to be delivered, forcing the TRS to move a no confidence motion against the Speaker.

Asserting that they would abide by the Speaker’s decision, rebel legislator Mandadi Satyanarayana Reddy faulted the TRS leadership for moving the no confidence motion.

The move, he said, was tantamount to “blackmailing” the Speaker and aimed at “influencing the judgment” on the disqualification of rebels.

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