Telangana Congress’ strength drops to 16 as another MLA defects to TRS

The Congress has witnessed three defections from their party to the TRS in the past one week, the latest being Chirumarthi Lingaiah, the MLA from Nakrekal.

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In another jolt to the Congress in Telangana, one of its legislators Saturday announced that he was joining the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Chirumarthi Lingaiah, who was elected from Nakrekal in December 7 polls, said he was switching loyalties for the development of his constituency. He also said if necessary, he would resign from the Assembly to contest again.

Lingaiah had a secret meeting with Chief Minister and TRS President K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday where he expressed his desire to join the TRS and Rao gave his nod. In a statement to the media, Lingaiah has blamed the Congress’ “anti-developmental stand” in the state as his reason to quit the party.

"The Nalgonda district started witnessing development only from 2014. People found a solution to the fluoride problem. The minor irrigation tanks got repaired. Both Palamuru-Rangareddy and Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme will provide water to Nalgonda district. The Udayasamudram lift irrigation scheme is being completed on a water footing basis. The completion of Udayasamudram will provide irrigation water to one lakh acres in Nakrekal, Munugode and Nalgonda Assembly segments,". He also welcomed the TRS government’s project to start up two medical colleges in Nalgonda and Suryapet.

He is the third Congress MLA to defect to the TRS in a week. Rega Kantha Rao and Atram Sakku, both tribal MLAs, had joined the TRS on March 2.

The defections drew strong protest from the Congress, which alleged that the ruling party was engineering defections and termed it as a threat to democracy.

With Lingaiah's defection, the strength of the Congress in 119-member Assembly has come down to 16, dealing a further blow to its hopes of winning at least one seat in the Legislative Council. Elections to five seats of the Legislative Council are scheduled to be held on March 22. The Congress needs at least 21 MLAs to win a seat.

The TRS had bagged 88 seats in the Assembly elections held in December. Congress had secured 19 seats. One of the two MLAs of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also crossed over to TRS on March 3.

The defection came on a day when its President Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting in Hyderabad to launch the party's campaign in Telangana for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

(With IANS inputs)