Saga of Opp-mukt assembly & friendly party seeking LoP post

Some see it as an opposition-mukt assembly in Telangana after two-thirds of Congress MLAs joined the ruling TRS ranks.

A few others argue the opposition may be woefully short on numbers but they can be as effective as they might be in case they had a decent strength.

The TRS had won 88 seats in the 119-member assembly in the December last elections which saw the Congress bagging 19, the AIMIM led by Hyderabad Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi seven, the TDP two and the BJP one.

An independent MLA, another who won on All India Forward Bloc ticket and a TDP lawmaker crossed over to the TRS thereafter.

And then began an exodus from the Congress early March culminating in its 12th MLA jumping the ship last week and the Speaker giving his nod for request of the dozen legislators to merge with the TRS legislature party.

This boosted to 103 the TRS tally in the House with an effective strength of 118 after the state Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned his seat following his victory in the Lok Sabha elections.

With the Congress strength slumping to just half-a-dozen MLAs, the AIMIM has made it known it would stake the claim for the Leader of Opposition status, being the largest grouping of seven legislators.

But is the AIMIM an opposition party in true sense?