India, Feb. 5 -- Hyderabad Telangana state assembly secretary Dr V Narasimha Charyulu on Tuesday issued notices to 10 lawmakers belonging to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi who defected to the ruling Congress last year, people familiar with the matter said.

The notices were issued acting on a batch of petitions filed by the BRS to state assembly speaker G Prasad Kumar, seeking disqualification of the MLAs, who switched loyalties to the Congress, in accordance with the anti-defection law.

The defected MLAs were asked to give an explanation why they switched over to the Congress.

"The MLAs, who were served notices, have sought time to respond to the notices sent by the assembly secretary," an official in the state legislature secretariat said...