After the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), it’s now the turn of the Cong (I) in Telangana to suffer serial defections of its legislators to the ruling Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS).

Steadily, the Cong (I) is thinning in strength in the new State. It has so far lost five MLAs out of the strength of 21 it got in the 2014 elections, in the 119 strong Telangana Assembly.

The Telangana Assembly consists of 119 MLAs. Those who already crossed over include DS Reddya Naik (Dornakal district), Yadaiah (Chevella), Vithal Reddy (Mudhole) and Kankaiah (Yellandu).

The latest to desert is the legislator from Makthal in Mahbubnagar. Chittem Rammohan Reddy, brother of former minister DK Aruna and from a politically strong family, formally joined the K Chandrasekhara Rao-led TRS.

Leadership issue There are indications that the outgo from the party can gather momentum in the coming weeks, as the government closes on completing its two years in office on June 2.

Also, the national party leadership is unable to infuse confidence in its ranks.

Party senior leader and in-charge of affairs of the State Digvijaya Singh himself reportedly stated that leaders were leaving for various reasons, and they were unable to boost the confidence of the local leadership. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the party was completely wiped out in the last elections and has to start from scratch.

Blow to TDP

Just before the Budget session of the Assembly in March, the Telugu Desam Party suffered a severe jolt when defections from its ranks peaked with the exit of its Legislature Party chief and strongman Errabelli Dayakar Rao. Within days, the number touched 12 out of the total 15 won in 2014.

Acting swiftly, Dayakar Rao wrote to the Speaker requesting that the rebel TDP group be recognised as part of the TRS as the number crossed the two-third mark, required under the anti-defection laws to avoid action.

Speaker Madhusudhana Chary also responded quickly to take cognisance of the letter and accorded recognition to the breakaway faction.

This attracted widespread criticism from TDP leader A Revanth Reddy, and Cong (I) leader K Jana Reddy, who questioned the role of the Speaker in showing haste in this case while not responding to their complaints against defections for months.

‘Operation Akarshan’ The TRS, which scraped through the 2014 elections with just the requisite simple majority, garnering 63 seats, silently launched what was dubbed as ‘Operation Akarshan’, with a two-fold intent.

First, to attract legislators from Opposition parties to its ranks and second, to merge breakaway groups wherever possible. The objective was to gain complete majority and weaken the Opposition in its bid to usher in ‘Bangaru Telangana’.

With the party set to complete two years in office on June 2, the TRS government, led by KCR, is sitting pretty at this stage. The party has more than 80 legislators now and continues to grow.

Under the leadership of IT Minister KT Rama Rao, the party romped home with a huge majority in the local body elections in Hyderabad earlier this year, thereby asserting its influence across the nine districts of the State.

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