Revanth Reddy Under Fire from Supreme Court

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was at the receiving end yet again. The Supreme Court faulted Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for his alleged statement in Assembly that there would be no bypolls in the State even if the opposition BRS members switched sides to the ruling Congress. The two-member Bench said that if the CM had made this statement on the floor of the House, he is making mockery of the 10th Schedule (anti-defection law).

It may be recalled that Revanth Reddy apologised for his remarks on granting of bail to the BRS leader K. Kavitha in the Delhi liquor policy case. At that time too, the Supreme Court reprimanded the CM for his comments about a ‘deal between the BJP and BRS for securing bail for Kavitha. On Wednesday, the apex court was hearing to petitions seeking disqualification of Telangana MLAs Venkata Rao Tellam, Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender, who switched to the Congress, after being elected as an MLA on a BRS ticket.

In November 2024, the Telangana High Court directed the Telangana Assembly Speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions in a reasonable time. The delay in taking a decision on the disqualification was challenged by two BRS MLAs — Kuna Pandu Vivekananda Reddy and Padi Kaushik Reddy and a BJP MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy. The petitioners expressed dissatisfaction over the Speaker’s failure in deciding on the matter within “reasonable time”.

After hearing to the arguments of both the sides, Justice Gavai said that Reanth Reddy should be warned that there should be no repeat action. The statements made in legislatures have sanctity. Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi argued that a High Court cannot order the Speaker to take time-bound decisions in disqualification matters. Courts can only request the Speaker, he said. However, the apex court questioned the Speaker’s delay in issuing notices on the disqualification petitions. The hearing in the case is still underway.