Congress Faces Jolt in Telangana as 2 MLAs Join TRS, Weeks Before Lok Sabha Elections 2019

Hyderabad, March 3: With the alarm bells for Lok Sabha elections already ringing, Congress in Telangana faced a major setback after two of its legislators – Athram Sakku and R. Kantha Rao – announced that they would join Telangana Rashtra Samithi and support state Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Also, in another news Telugu Desam Sathupalli legislator Sandra Venkata Veeraiah – expected to join TRS – met Rao at his residence in Hyderabad on Saturday.

According to the TRS party sources, Asifabad MLA Sakku and Pinapaka legislator Rega Kantha Rao have confirmed meeting CM Rao and had brought notice of the problems of the Schedule Tribes, particularly of the Adivasis. The lawmakers, after meeting Rao, said that the CM had assured them of resolving the issue. In the meantime, both the leaders have said that only KCR can solve their issues as he had brought statehood for Telangana. TRS Working to Form Federal Front Without BJP, Congress for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. 

Commenting on their decision to join TRS, the Congress MLAs said that they would resign from their membership of the Telangana state Assembly if necessary and contest again on TRS ticket. Adding on they said that they would consult legal experts and supporters.

With the Lok Sabha elections and Council elections in place, the defection of Congress MLAs is a blow to the party, as it was forming up the votes to win a seat in the Council elections from the MLA quota. According to the rule, if three lawmakers defect, the Congress-TDP would lose the chance to win the seat, as the strength would fall to 18. KCR's Prerogative to Decide if He Wants to Attend a Rally or Not: TRS. 

Meanwhile, TDP leaders including minister N Lokesh alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of conspiring by ‘carrying out attacks’ on IT companies in Hyderabad that were providing services to the party. He even alleged that the three leaders were trying to steal the data of the Telugu Desam to weaken their party in the both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 03, 2019 10:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).