Business interests trump party loyalty in T'gana: Cong

The Congress on Thursday claimed that business interests were at play in the mass defection of party legislators to the ruling TRS in Telangana.

As 12 out of the 18 party MLAs in the Telangana Assembly switched sides, the Congress was in a quandary as it could not invoke the provisions of the anti-defection law seeking action against the errant legislators.

If at least two-third members of a legislature party decide to form a new political group, or 'merge' with another political party they cannot be disqualified under the anti-defection law.

The current spate of defections from the Congress gathered pace after state unit president Uttam Kumar Reddy quit his Assembly seat on being elected to the Lok Sabha, thus bringing the Congress strength to 18.

"Most of the legislators are businessmen and contractors who have bills to the tune of crores pending with the state government. The bills will get settled after the defection," AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana R C Khuntia said.

Khuntia accused Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekara Rao of trying to demolish the Opposition in the state by orchestrating defections from rival parties.

“He (Rao) has got enough MLAs on his own, despite that he is purchasing MLAs. This is not a good sign,” the Congress leader said.

Khuntia recalled that the TRS had triggered similar defections during its first term in office. “As many as 14 of the 15 TDP MLAs had joined the TRS,” he said.

In December last year, the TRS had retained power in Telangana winning 88 of the 119 seats in the state Assembly. The Congress had won 19 seats.

In 2014, TRS, which had won 63 out of 119 seats, had managed to lure 25 MLAs and 7 MLCs of Opposition parties to switch loyalties, weakening the two main Opposition parties— the Congress and the TDP.

Later, the TRS merged the TDP legislative party into the ruling TRS legislative party.