Disqualification: Speaker completes hearings

HYDERABAD: Hearing on the disqualification petitions filed against 16 Congress MLAs and one PRP MLA by the Assembly speaker concluded on Thursday with PRP whip Vanga Geetha furnishing evidence in support of her party’s charge that Allagadda PRP legislator Bhuma Shobha Nagireddy had defied the party whip and voted for the no-confidence motion against the government in the Assembly on December 5.The hearing on the petitions filed against 16 Congress MLAs, who are in the Jagan Mohan Reddy camp, had been completed earlier with Congress whip Kondru Murali Mohan submitting evidence that they had defied the defied party whip.The MLAs did not bother to attend hearings in spite of speaker’s notices.They wanted to be disqualified forthwith without the need for hearing since they had defied the party whip right under his very nose. As regards PRP legislator Shobha Nagireddy, the speaker issued a notice to her to appear before him but there was no response. Speaking with reporters later, Geetha criticised Shobha Nagi Reddy for not responding to speaker’s notices. “When you are a legislator, she should have respect for laws and procedures under which she was issued a notice to appear before the speaker,” she said.Shobha knew that she was liable to be disqualified and that was the reason why she wanted the speaker to accept her resignation rather than disqualify her