12 Cong MLAs join TRS, seek merger of CLP

In a major shock to the jubilant Telangana Congress which has won three MP seats in the recent elections, twelve of its legislators on Thursday met the Assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and urged him to merge them with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the ruling party. The Congress has 19 legislators in the 120 (119 and 1 nominated) seat Assembly.

The move came after the number of turncoat legislators rose to 12, just enough to break away from the Congress. On Thursday, Tandur Congress MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy declared that he is joining the ruling party and met TRS working president K T Rama Rao. Along with him, eleven MLAs met KTR at Pragathi Bhavan the camp office of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao where they reportedly had lunch together. From there they met Speaker Pocharam and submitted the letter seeking recognition as a breakaway group.

In addition to Rohith Reddy, the group includes Sabitha Indra Reddy (Maheswaram), Jajala Surender (Yellareddy), Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka), Kandala Upender Reddy (Paleru), Haripriya (Yellandu) , Vanama Venkateswara Rao (Kothagudem) , Chirumarthi Lingaiah (Nakrekal), Devireddy Sudheer Reddy (LB Nagar), Athram Sakku ( Asifabad), Beeram Harshavardhan Reddy ( Kollapur) and Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy (Bhupalpalle) .

Agitated by the sudden turn of events, the Congress leaders sat on a silent dharna in front of the Gandhi statue in the Assembly premises. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that they will also surround the residence of KCR where the breakaway group is allegedly taking shelter. Police took the agitating MLAs and senior leader V Hanumanth Rao into custody, thwarting their efforts to lay seize to the CM’s residence.

The breakaway group hastened the move after the number of MLA seats of the party came down from 19 to 18 as the TPCC Chief resigned as MLA after winning as Member of Parliament. As a result, the 12 seats become a two-thirds majority of the 18. After the merger, the total number of MLA seats of the TRS will rise to 14 from 91. The Congress legislature party with only 6 seats will lose its opposition party recognition, giving that status to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen with 7 seats.