HC notices to T'gana govt, TDP over petition against minister

The Hyderabad High Court today issued notices to TRS party-led Telangana government, Minister for Commercial Taxes Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) seeking their responses on a petition challenging the minister's continuance in the cabinet.
The bench of acting Chief Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice S V Bhatt issued notices based on a petition filed by Tangella Shiva Prasad Reddy who claims to be a journalist.
The petitioner contended that Yadav was elected to the state legislative assembly on a TDP ticket but later voluntarily gave up his party membership and joined ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
The petitioner asked how one party MLA can become a minister of other party's government. He asked the high court to take appropriate action against Yadav for violating the constitutional mandatory procedure.

The petitioner alleged that under the anti-defection law, a defector cannot be given any post.
"The basic objective of the defection law is to discourage defections from one political party to another after the elections," the petitioner said.
The case will be heard after next month.