Sayanna’s exit: Lokesh tells Telugu Desam to resist Telangana Rashtra Samithi

Mr Lokesh was told by the TD leaders that the TRS was at present going all out to lure more Opposition legislators to its fold, offering them inducements that the legislators are finding irresistible.

Sources said Mr Lokesh told the leaders that it was to be expected that the TRS would go all out to win the GHMC polls and it is for the TD to resist such moves and strengthen the party and win a majority of the divisions.

He said there is a lot of scope for TD and its alliance partner, the BJP, to expand base, particularly in the GHMC as people are fed up with the rule of the TRS, which only talks but never acts on its promises and projects to make Hyderabad a global city.

He also directed the leaders to immediately organise meetings in all the divisions and appoint ad hoc committees in the constituencies represented by the defected MLAs. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, TD Legislature Party leader

Errabelli Dayakar Rao said the TD cannot not be weakened with the kind of defections engineered by the TRS.

“Our party cadre and workers at the grassroots-level support the party regardless of the legislators quitting the party,” he said.