The opposition YSR Congress today strongly condemned chief minister Chandrababu Naidu for encouraging defections blatantly and boasting that it would not attract the provisions of Anti-defection Act.

The party has asserted that there were precedents when courts intervened and settled stalemate over disqualification.

‘Engineering defections and boasting that those who crossed over will not be disqualified as long as the Speaker does not take up the issue is spreading fallacy. There are cases when the courts intervened and disqualified the members on various grounds,’ party MLA B Rajendernath Reddy said.

Chandrababu Naidu, who had been speaking of integrity, values and morals, had dropped the mask and his true colours had been exposed once again by luring MLAs from other parties, he said.

Rajendranath wondered as to why the CM was inviting the MLAs from the opposition party despite having enough numbers and there was threat to his governmeht.

“Naidu cryies foul over when his MLAs joined ruling TRS in Telangana. But in Andhra Pradesh, he makes open appeal to opposition MLAs to join the party. He publicly calls upon the ministers to bring as many MLAs as possible from the opposition YSRC party. What is it if it is not double standards,” he asked.

According to Rajendranath, the Anti-Defection Act which was amended clearly states that any elected member switching over to other party will automatically be disqualified.

He stated that the law does not apply only if two-thirds of the members merge with other party as it happened in the case of PRP when it merged with Congress.

He dismissed the argument that the disqualification was the prerogative of the Speaker and cited Karnataka and Bihar cases where courts had intervened and disqualified the crossed over members, in the absence of action from the chair of the Assembly.