Congress calls party MLAs seeking merger with TRS 'murder of democracy'

The Congress on Thursday described 12 party MLAs in Telangana urging the state Assembly Speaker to merge the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as "murder of democracy".

"Indians are not used to the way people's mandates and democratic norms are butchered. It is daylight murder of democracy. Because somebody is in power and has access to resources and can control agencies does not mean that power should be misused," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.

"These MLAs were elected by the voters who rejected the TRS and voted for the Congress. This is murder of people's mandate. India will never forget the daylight murder of democracy," Khera said.

Twelve of the 18 Congress MLAs in Telangana on Thursday called on state Assembly Speaker P. Srinivas Reddy and submitted a letter seeking CLP's merger with the TRS. They later went to Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

While 11 Congress MLAs had already announced that they will join the TRS, Rohit Reddy from the Tandu Assembly constituency also declared switching loyalty to the TRS and joined the group of defectors.

--IANS

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