Hyderabad: In a major political development after the Supreme Court direction, the Assembly secretary has served notices on the 10 dissident BRS MLAs, who had defected to the Congress after the Assembly elections.

Following a Special Leave Petition filed by the BRS in the Supreme Court (SC) against the dissident BRS legislators, the Apex court had recently asked the Assembly Speaker to act against them at a stipulated time by February 10.

The notice sought a written explanation from the defectors for switching parties. However, the MLAs have sought time to respond to the notices.

BRS MLA Paidi Kaushik Reddy also filed a petition against three dissident MLAs – Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari and Venkat Rao Tellam and requested the court to take action.

Another writ petition was filed against the remaining seven dissident MLAs who joined the Congress subsequently.

Sources said that the dissident MLAs sought some time to respond to the notices issued by the Assembly Secretary on Tuesday. The BRS has launched a legal fight for the disqualification of the dissident MLAs.

BRS working president KT Rama Rao said the notices to the dissident MLAs were the first step to the disqualification of the defected BRS legislators. He hoped that the Speaker would take action as per the Supreme Court’s directions.