Big jolt to Cong in Telangana, 12 MLAs seek CLP merger with TRS

In a big jolt to the Congress in Telangana, as many as 12 of its 18 MLAs Thursday sought merger of their legislature party with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

The MLAs met Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and gave him a representation in this regard after Tandur MLA Rohith Reddy became the 12th Congress legislator to jump ship, boosting the strength of the defectors to two-thirds of the state Congress Legislature Party.

Since early March, as many as 11 Congress MLAs had switched sides before Rohith Reddy moved over to the ruling camp Thursday.

Congress strength in the 119-member House came down to 18 after Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President N Uttam Kumar Reddy tendered his resignation from the Assembly Wednesday after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Nalgonda in the recent elections.

"This is completely illegal. KCR (TRS President and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) is cheating the mandate of the people of Telangana," Uttam Kumar Reddy told PTI as he held protests on the Assembly premises along with Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader M Bhatti Vikramarka, and senior party leaders, following the move by the defectors.

Rohith Reddy earlier in the day met TRS working President and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's son KT Rama Rao and pledged his loyalty to the ruling outfit.

Senior Congress legislator Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy told reporters that the 12 MLAs decided to work with the Chief Minister for the "development of the State."