Supreme Court Verdict Exposes BRS Hypocrisy on Defections: Shabbir Ali
He said the judgment was a clear vindication of the Speaker’s constitutional authority and a slap on the face of BRS, which is now questioning the very powers it once exploited.
Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and Advisor to the Telangana Government Mohammed Ali Shabbir welcomed the Supreme Court verdict directing the Telangana Assembly Speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions filed against 10 MLAs who shifted allegiance to the ruling Congress. He said the judgment was a clear vindication of the Speaker’s constitutional authority and a slap on the face of BRS, which is now questioning the very powers it once exploited.
Speaking to the media, Shabbir Ali said, “We have received the kind of verdict we expected. The Supreme Court has upheld the Speaker’s powers, stating that both the Assembly and the Judiciary are independent institutions with their own jurisdictions. The apex court has dismissed the petition filed by K.T. Rama Rao, who tried to undermine the Speaker’s role.”
He accused BRS of double standards and political opportunism. “It is ironic that the BRS, which engineered mass defections during its regime and repeatedly ignored the anti-defection law, is now trying to hide behind constitutional provisions to protect its political interests,” he said.
Shabbir Ali stated that KCR, during his tenure as Chief Minister, promoted a culture of political defections in Telangana. “No other leader in the country has systematically weakened the anti-defection law like KCR. Over the last 10 years, he facilitated the defection of at least 43 elected representatives without facing legal consequences,” he said. “I lost my position as the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council due to the defection of Congress MLCs engineered by KCR,” he said.
Citing specific examples, he recalled that the practice of defections started on June 2, 2014, the day Telangana was formed, when two BSP MLAs – Indrakaran Reddy and Koneru Konappa – joined BRS. Later, TDP MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav was made a minister without resigning from his party, continuing in that post for over 14 months while remaining a TDP MLA, which was a violation of constitutional norms.
According to Shabbir Ali, during KCR’s first term (2014–2018), the BRS orchestrated the defection of 4 MPs, 25 MLAs, and 18 MLCs. In the second term (2018–2023), 12 Congress MLAs and 2 TDP MLAs defected to the ruling party. “These weren’t one-time events. They happened over two-year spans in both terms. KCR used the Speaker’s office to legitimise defections and avoid by-elections,” he alleged.
On the Supreme Court’s judgment, Shabbir Ali noted, “The court has only reinforced what is already in the Constitution – that the Speaker has full authority to decide on disqualification petitions.”
He stressed that the court did not curtail the Speaker’s powers but rather directed swift action in a time-bound manner. “The message is clear: constitutional institutions must not be misused or paralysed for political gains,” he said.
Shabbir Ali said that the BRS’s attempt to discredit the Speaker’s authority has backfired. “This judgment has not only exposed the hypocrisy of BRS but also restored public faith in constitutional processes. KCR, who once used the Speaker’s office to legalise defections, is now questioning the same institution. That contradiction has been called out by the Supreme Court,” he said.
