Hyderabad, Dec. 18 -- Telangana assembly speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday dismissed the petitions filed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi seeking disqualification of five of the 10 MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress last year.

The speaker read out his order on the disqualification petitions filed against five legislators - Tellam Venkata Rao from Bhadrachalam, Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy from Gadwal, Gudem Mahipal Reddy from Patancheru, T Prakash Goud from Rajendranagar, and Arekapudi Gandhi from Serilingampally assembly constituencies.

In his order, the Speaker stated that the petitioners had failed to produce credible evidence to establish that the five MLAs had formally defected from the BRS to the Congress.

He observed that...