HYDERABAD: TRS continued poaching Congress MLAs on Friday to reach the magic figure of 13 to facilitate the Congress Legislature Party’s merger into the pink party. Congress legislators Vanama Venkateswara Rao (Kothagudem) and D Sudheer Reddy (LB Nagar) called on TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Friday.
Though, Vanama was not available for comment, he is said to be willing to join TRS. However, Sudheer Reddy announced that he met KTR and would meet Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the next two to three days.
“I have decided to join TRS. KTR assured the development of LB Nagar Assembly segment including beautification of tanks, resolving the registration problems of LB Nagar colonies and property tax issues,” Sudheer Reddy said.
So far six Congress MLAs declared that they would join TRS. If Vanama and Sudheer Reddy too join the pink party formally, the official number will go up to eight. According to sources, Jajala Surender (Yellareddy) is also expected to join the pink bandwagon soon. If he does, the tally would go up to nine.
The TRS wants to ensure that not less than 13 Congress MLAs would join its ranks as they constitute two thirds of its strength in the Assembly which is 19. Then only the Congress Legislature Party would get the eligibility to merge with the TRS.
The six Congress MLAs who declared their intention to join the TRS are: Atram Sakku (Asifabad), Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka), P Sabitha Indra Reddy (Maheswaram), Haripriya Banoth (Yellandu), Chirumarthi Lingaiah (Nakrekal), Kandala Upender Reddy (Palair).
Congress MLAs who are understood to be contemplating to join the TRS include Podem Veeraiah (Bhadrachalam), B Harshavardhan Reddy (Kollapur), Komatireddy Rajagopal (Munugodu) and T Jayaprakash Reddy (Sangareddy). In Warangal district, Panchayat Raj Minister E Dayakar Rao said that soon, no one would be left in the Congress camp.
Meanwhile, TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who was supposed to commence his one-on-one with sitting MPs on Friday to finalise the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha seats, deferred the meeting as he reportedly wanted to wait till the Congress releases its list of candidates.