Hyderabad: As expected by ruling party strategists, it may not be possible to merge the defecting Congress MLAs into the TRS Legislature Party before the Lok Sabha results are declared on May 23.
Eleven MLAs elected on Congress tickets have announced that they are joining the TRS. Bhadrachalam Congress MLA Podem Veeraiah has indicated he is ready to switch sides. With this, the total number of defecting MLAs will come to 12.
The Congress secured 19 seats in the Assembly elections. To merge the CLP, the defecting MLAs require a two-thirds of the total MLAs to avoid disqualification under the Anti Defection Act. So, 13 Congress MLAs are required to merge the CLP into the TRSLP.
Sources said that TRS leaders had discussed this with two more Congress MLAs, but they said that they will take a decision after the Lok Sabha results. TRS leaders are pressurising these two MLAs to join the party.
TRS leaders planned to complete the merger before the zilla and mandal elections. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao wants to hold the Assem-bly session in June. The government has to place the full Budget in the Assembly but it depends on the Centre’s schedule.
The TRS plans to deny the Congress the status of main Opposition party in the House when it opens in June and therefore the ruling party plans to complete the merger at the earliest.
The TRS expects to win 16 Lok Sabha seats. If it does, the two Congress MLAs will join it. If not, the two Congress MLAs may re-think.
The Lok Sabha results on May 23 will decide whether the plans of the ruling party to make the Congress lose the opposition status in the house, will succeed.
Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading.
