Hyderabad: Sixty-five Congress MLAs who won in the 2009 general election will contest from the YSRC, the TD and the TRS in the upcoming elections while 22 TD MLAs who won in the last election will contest from the Congress, the TRS and the BJP. The candidates are the same, the constituencies are the same but the parties have changed.
At one point it looked like almost all the Cong-ress MLAs had defected to the TD. But that was largely due to the hype created by the TD. As of now, 33 Seemandhra Congress MLAs have joined the YSRC and 27 Seemandhra Congress MLAs joined the TD. Six Seemandhra TD MLAs have joined the YSRC.
In Telangana, four Congress MLAs and 14 TD MLAs have joined the TRS. One TD MLA has joined the BJP and another TD MLA and one TRS MLA have joined the Congress. In Seemandhra, one Congress MLA has cros-sed over to the Jai Samaikyandhra party. A total of 88 MLAs have defected to various parties.
The TD has lost 22 MLAs and gained 27.
Eleven Congress MPs have defected to other parties. Three have joined the YSRC, two have joined the TRS, and another two have joined the Jai Samaikyandhra party.
Daggubati Purandeswari has joined the BJP and may be followed by Kavuri Samba Siva Rao. One TRS MP has joined the Congress.
Almost all the MLAs and MPs who have defected will be given a ticket to contest as a reward. Congress MLA Erasu Pratapa Reddy, who joined the TD, will contest from Panyam Assembly constituency in Kurnool district. He was elected from Srisailam Assembly constituency in the last elections.
In fact, the 15 MLAs who joined the YSRC from the Congress were later elected from the YSRC in the bypolls. Some MLAs left the TD just before the 2009 elections and joined the Praja Rajyam, and are now back with the TD. One of them is Ganta Srinivasa Rao who was elected on a PR ticket from Anakapalli Assembly constituency in 2009. After the PR merged with the Congress, Mr Srinivasa Rao became a minister. He is back with the TD now.
A former TDP minister Mr Kottapalli Subbarayudu left the party and joined the Praja Rajyam in the 2009 elections; he was defeated by the Congress candidate in Narsapuram assembly constituency. Congress MLA Prasada Raju joined into YSRCP and resigned his post. In the by elections Kottapalli contested from congress party and defeated YSRCP candidate. And now he joined into YSRCP.
Some MLAs want to upgrade to a Lok Sabha seat. Like Congress MLAs Mr Tota Narasimham and Mr D.L. Ravindra Reddy, who have defected to the TDP, and want to contest for Parliament from Kakinada and Kadapa respectively.
In some constituencies, TDP leaders and cadre are opposing the distribution of tickets to recently joined Congress MLAs. TDP leaders who have been working for the party even when it was out of power for a decade, are now wanting to contest. But it's the recently joined Congress MLAs who are getting the tickets as a reward for their defection.
Once candidates are officially announced, more defections may take place this time by those denied tickets. Some may remain in the party and try to backstab the party candidates. It will be interesting to see how many of the defectors will win.
