Hyderabad: The 10 BRS MLAs who had defected to the Congress, during the exodus from the pink party up to July 2024, are now in a tight spot as the state Assembly Speaker G Prasad Kumar has issued notices to the turncoat legislators and sought their reply in 90 days. The MLAs have started seeking legal advice to escape from the disciplinary action, under which they may lose their membership in the Assembly. Following the directive of the Supreme Court on July 25 this year, the Assembly speaker served notices to the defected MLAs who joined the ruling Congress soon after the 2023 Assembly elections.

The opposition BRS has been fighting against the BRS MLAs over their switching loyalties to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. The BRS MLAs Danam Nagedhar (Khairatabad), Kadium Srihari (Station Ghanpur), Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy (Bhanswada), Arekepudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadrachalam), Dr Sanjay Kumar (Jagityal), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), Prakash Goud (Rajendarnagar), B Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal) and G Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) have been staying away from BRS. Ever since the BRS lodged a defection case against the 10 MLAs in the Supreme Court, the legislators have been maintaining discreet silence, while refraining from attending Congress and government programmes fearing direct action against them by the court. Soon after receiving a notice from the Speaker, Gadwal MLA B Krishna Mohan Reddy denied having joined the ruling Congress. The MLA said, “I am still with BRS technically. I will abide by the law and follow whatever orders are issued by the Speaker and the Supreme Court,” with a caveat that he would take legal opinion and act accordingly.