As expected by political circles, the congress legislature party leadership may take four to five days to lodge a complaint to the Speaker and seek disqualification of 16 party MLAs who voted in favour of the no-confidence motion in the assembly defying the party whip.

Within hours of the no-confidence motion being defeated, legislative affairs minister Mr D. Sridhar Babu and Government whip, Mr Kondru Murali told journalists they would lodge complaint against the 16 MLAs immediately.

However, Murali told journalists again on Tuesday the proceedings may be delayed by another 4 days but the leadership has not changed its decision. Meanwhile, PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana told media persons that the issue of seeking disqualification of the rebel MLAs is in the jurisdiction of the Chief Minister Kirankumar reddy.

Sources said that congress General Secretary in charge of AP Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad is abroad and soon after his arrival, the PCC leadership will consult him and take a final decision on the disqualification of MLAs.

As per the Rule 2 (B) of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, MLAs who defy the whip are entitled for disqualification. Once the Speaker receives a formal complaint from the congress legislature party, he can immediately disqualify them even without serving a notice on them. (JUBS)