HC issues notice to Speaker, EC, Congress legislators over CLP merger

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday served notices to Assembly Speaker, Election Commission of India and Secretary in relation to the merger of Congress Legislative Party with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti Legislative Party.

Senior counsel Ravishankar Jandhyala argued vehemently for the petitioners Mallu Batti Vikramarka and Uttam Kumar Reddy against the merger of CLP with TRSLP.The petition earlier filed against the merger of Telangana Congress legislative Council was also heard along with the CLP merger.

The court also served notices to all defected MLAs and MLCs to respond for the allegations levelled against them in the petition. The court posted the matter to 4 weeks later for further hearing. The petitions by Vikramarka and Reddy were filed in April, seeking directions to Speaker P Srinivas Reddy not to allow merger of the Congress MLAs without hearing the party.