The issue of defections seems to be turned to be a contentious issue in both the Telugu states. This issue has been leading to uproar frequently in Telangana assembly. Again it has rocked the house proceedings yesterday, when the house took short discussion on TS-iPASS.

When the Speaker Madhusudhana Chary permitted Khammam MLA Puvvada Ajay to speak, that was strongly objected by Congress deputy leader T Jeevan Reddy. Ajay, son of CPI veteran Puvvada Nageswara Rao has elected as TDP MLA in 2014, but later `shifted’ to ruling TRS.

Jeevan Reddy deplores that it was wrong on the part of Speaker to allow Ajay speak on behalf of Congress. He said that Ajay had defected to the ruling party and cannot be allowed to speak on behalf of Congress.

To this, the Speaker said that he had allowed Ajay to speak on the issue as a member of the house. Ministers Kadiam Srihari and KT Rama Rao supporting the Speaker’s decision criticised the Congress members for question the authority of the Speaker.

KTR questioned as to what action Congress took against the members who defected to the ruling party from 2004 to 2014. He said that the Congress never spoke of violation of Constitution when it encouraged defections while in power and added that it has no right to speak on the issue.

Countering the minister, Opposition leader K. Jana Reddy said that only party leaders should be allowed to speak on the issues during the time allocated to respective parties and added that they would raise objections if rules are violated. He cautioned that the Congress would not tolerate if the ruling party tries to misuse its power.

However, supporting his right to speak, Ajay said that it was wrong on the party of any party to stop him from speaking in the Assembly. He said that he had sought time from the Speaker to speak on the issue and the Speaker allowed him. There is nothing wrong in this, he added. Normally, as per legislative practices, speaker invites members to speak from the list of speakers provided by each party in the house.