TDP faces crisis in Telangana as MLAs cross over to TRS

The Telugu Desam Party’s slide continues in Telangana. Close on the heels of a drubbing in the Hyderabad civic polls, the party has lost its Legislature Party chief and two other MLAs, to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Only five of the fifteen MLAs elected on the party ticket remain within the TDP fold, the others having crossed over to the TRS. Three-time MLA and once MP Erabelli Dayakar Rao, who also was the leader of the TDP in the Telangana Assembly who resigned from the party last Wednesday, shot off a letter to Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, asking him to recognise the 10 MLAs who had crossed over to the TRS as having merged with the party. This would help the legislators bypass provisions of the Anti-Defection Law.

While MLA V Prakash Goud quit on Wednesday, Rajender Reddy, the TDP legislator from Narayan Peth in Mahabubnagar district resigned from the party on Friday.

TDP chief and Chief Minister of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu, had rushed to Hyderabad from Vijayawada to hold a ‘damage control’ and strategy meeting on Thursday.

During discussions, Naidu tried to assuage the feelings of some leaders who felt they were not being given due importance. Naidu said the party would be rebuilt in the State, and cited the example of the BJP, whose strength was once reduced to two in Parliament, only to bounce back later. TDP State President A Revanth Reddy tried to play down the impact, saying its grassroots support was strong and fresh, and that young leadership would emerge from the districts.

On the other hand, the TRS’ numbers in the 11-member House are swelling in the Assembly with frequent crossovers. From 63, its strength will now rise to 80. After its thumping victory in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, the addition of MLAs only helps it consolidate its position in the State.

The TRS, which managed to get a simple majority in the 2014 elections bagging 63 seats, soon unveiled its ‘Project Akarshan’, which was designed to induce legislators from Opposition parties through a combination of reward and persuasion, and weaken them. Though it publicly denies such moves, the TRS has managed to draw four Congress legislators, seven TDP MLAs, two BSP and a few YSR Congress to its fold.

In the case of Warangal strongman Erabelli, who has been a vocal critic of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, it is the importance given to Revanth Reddy that is being held as a major factor for the defection.

If the TDP stands on the precipice of splitting, the Congress, which won 21 seats, is a party in complete disarray. Its rout in GHMC polls does not augur well. Its leadership in the districts is at loggerheads with each other and does not look like having the energy to take on the TRS, whose strength is swelling in rural areas with the slew of welfare schemes it has unleashed. The BJP (5) and Left parties (2), hardly have a presence in the State. The MIM, which has seven MLAs from its stronghold, the old city of Hyderabad, demonstrated its influence in the region yet again by emerging second in the civic polls.