HYDERABAD: As many as 12 Congress MLAs, who constitute two-thirds of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), joined the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi Legislature Party (TRSLP) in the State Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
A day after PCC president and Huzurnagar MLA N Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned as an MLA, following his election to the Lok Sabha, one more Congress MLA, Rohith Reddy, from Tandur, joined the pink bandwagon on Thursday, taking the total number of Congress legislators who switched sides to 12.
With this, the number of defectors from the Congress to the TRS became two-thirds of the total strength of the CLP — 18 — which paved the way for the merger of the legislators with the TRSLP.
The total strength of the TRS in the Assembly has now risen from 88 to 103 in just six months since the Assembly polls. The number of Congress legislators fell from 19 to six, and the party lost its Opposition party status in the Assembly. The Assembly secretariat issued a bulletin confirming the merger of the CLP MLAs with the TRS in the evening.
All 12 Congress MLAs met TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragathi Bhavan and requested him to merge them with the TRSLP. Later, they drove to Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy’s residence and submitted a letter requesting to effect the merger as per the X Schedule of the Constitution. Then, the 12 MLAs returned to Pragathi Bhavan and had lunch with TRS working president KT Rama Rao.
This is the first time in South India that two-thirds of legislators of a national party have merged with a regional party in the Assembly.
In 2016, in Arunachal Pradesh, 43 of 44 Congress MLAs, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu, joined the People’s Party of Arunachal Pradesh, an ally of the BJP.
Till Wednesday, the Congress was happy with its victory in three LS constituencies in Telangana. But this happiness proved to be short-lived. The Congress had won 19 seats in the Assembly, but one after the other, 12 Congress MLAs joined the TRS.
With the merger process having been completed, P Sabitha Indra Reddy, former home minister, is expected to get a berth in the State Cabinet, which is expected to be expanded soon.
It may be recalled that in December, four Congress MLCs merged with the TRS in the State Legislative Council. Thus, the Congress lost its Opposition status in the Assembly. After the victory of T Jeevan Reddy in the Graduates’ constituency, the Congress now has one member in the 40-member Council.