Jolt to Congress as 12 MLAs merge with TRS

In a major setback to the Telangana Congress, 12 defectors from the party formed a group and merged with the TRS Legislature Party on Thursday. Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy approved the move in the evening. With this, the TRS officially has 102 MLAs, apart from a TD legislator who has joined the party.

Tandur Congress legislator Pilot Rohith Reddy jumped ship at the last minute in the morning, giving the legislators the numbers required to split the party and seek to join the TRS Legislature Party.

The stage was set on Wednesday when Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy quit as Huzurnagar MLA, upon his election as Nalgonda MP. That reduced the number of Congress legislators to 18, and the two-third mark needed to split the party under the anti-defection Act, came down to 12.

The 12th defector, Mr Rohith Reddy, met TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao in the morning and expressed his willingness to join the TRS.

Eleven Congress MLAs had previously announced that they would be officially joining the



TRS.

After Mr Rohith Reddy’s decision, the 12 Congress MLAs on the direction of the TRS leadership held a meeting and passed a resolution to merge with the TRS Legislature Party (TRLP).

Later, the MLAs met Speaker Srinivasa Reddy at his residence in Ministers Quarters and submitted a letter requesting the merger.

In the evening, Assembly Secretary V. Narasimha-charyulu issued a bulletin recognising the merger of the Congress Legislature Party into the TRS Legislature Party.

Earlier, TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao  hosted a lunch at Pragathi Bhavan for these MLAs.

The Congress won 19 seats in the recent Assembly elections. With the resignation of Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy as MLA (after he was elected MP), the total strength of Congress MLAs reduced to 18. To avoid disqualification under the Anti Defection Act, two-thirds of Congress MLAs were required to merge with the TRSLP. The TRS was waiting for one more Congress MLA to defect before it can take up the merger process.