New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday termed as "daylight murder of democracy" the manner in which 12 of its 18 MLAs in Telangana quit the party to join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said this was not a healthy practice for the country and it amounted to butchering people's mandate, which the people of the southern state would never forgive.

"The way the people's mandate and democratic norms are being butchered, this is something which India should not get used to. Indians should not get used to this kind of daylight murder of democracy," he said.

Khera said just because somebody was in power, had access to resources and thought he could control agencies, "it does not mean he has got unbridled powers and that he should misuse those powers and kill democracy".

Khera said these 12 MLAs were elected by voters who had rejected the TRS and voted for the Congress. "This is a murder of their mandate. India may ignore it today, but it will never forget this daylight murder of democracy," he added.

Asked if there was any kind of allurement or pressure, the Congress leader said journalists would be better placed to find out what all had been happening in Telangana.

"As a political activist, we know what is happening. I would love it when you go there and say it because people will take you more seriously than me," he said.

In a big jolt to the Congress in Telangana, 12 of its 18 MLAs broke away from the party to join the TRS. Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy later approved their request, boosting the strength of the defectors to two-thirds of that of the Congress Legislature Party in the southern state.

Two-thirds of the MLAs of a party can form a separate bloc and the anti-defection law does not apply to them, according to the Representation of the People Act.