Legal experts have stressed the need for proper amendment to the anti-defection laws to avoid a situation as in Telangana Assembly where Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary conceded the request of Telugu Desam MLAs to be merged with the TRS as they constituted more than two-thirds of the party strength in the House. They said Mr. Chary took the decision as the court had left it to him to deal with the earlier petitions of TDP seeking disqualification of its members who defected to the TRS. The court obviously did not interfere since the Speaker kept pending half-a-dozen petitions not only of TDP, but of Congress party too. If he had acted on them, probably, the court would have taken cognizance. However, Mr. Chary took up a different petition of former TDP Floor Leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao wanting the 10 TDP MLAs who deserted the party to be treated as TRS members. Para four of Schedule Ten of the Constitution was clear that two-thirds of MLAs of a party who resorted to floor crossing will not attract disqualification if they merged with another party. This was the latest amendment to an earlier provision in the Schedule which said the defected MLAs could be disqualified in case of floor crossing.
However, the TDP, BJP and Congress on Friday said the Speaker’s action was immoral and undemocratic. The Leader of Opposition, K. Jana Reddy, whose Congress party also suffered as four of its MLAs joined the TRS, said the Speaker’s decision amounted to taking advantage of loopholes in the anti-defection law. The message that went to public was that the whims and fancies of the ruling party ultimately prevails. He also said the Congress would seek legal opinion before initiating action, but the issue would be raised in the Assembly.
The BJP Floor Leader, K. Laxman, said the decision was a blot on Telangana. He questioned why the second petition seeking merger was entertained when the earlier one on defection went unattended. Telangana TDP president L. Ramana said the party would wage a legal struggle as individual members could not decide merger. It must be done by the party.
