AMN / Hyderabad
In a major political development in Telangana, 12 of Congress 18 MLAs on Thursday sought merger with the ruling Telangana Rashtrya Samithi (TRS).
The Congress president and other remaining MLAs sat on a dharna to protest the merger.
12 of its MLAs met Assembly Speaker P Srinivas Reddy and gave him a representation to merge the Congress Legislature Party with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
The Congress’s strength in the 119-member House came down to 18 after the party’s Telangana state unit chief Uttam Kumar Reddy tendered his resignation from the Assembly Thursday after being elected to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda.
In a dramatic turn of events, Tandoor Congress MLA Rohith Reddy met TRS Working president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son KT Rama Rao and pledged his loyalty to the ruling outfit.
In March, 11 Congress MLAs had announced that they would join the TRS.
Senior Congress legislator Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy said the 12 MLAs decided to work with the chief minister for the development of the state.
He further confirmed that they gave a representation to the Speaker requesting him to merge them with the TRS.
“We held a special meeting of the Congress Legislature Party. The 12 members supported the leadership of Chief Minister KCR and wanted to work with him. We gave a representation to the Speaker and requested him to merge us with the TRS,” Reddy said.