Congress faces mass defection in Telangana ahead of Lok Sabha poll

The Congress in Telangana is facing a crisis of sorts with nearly one-third of its MLAs deciding to switch loyalty to TRS, giving a boost the regional party's game-plan to sweep the coming Lok Sabha polls. The Congress won only 19 seats in the December 7, 2018, Assembly elections, which saw the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) returning to power with a haul of 88 seats in the 119-member House.

Since March 2 there has been a defection spree with six Congress MLAs--along with one of the two TDP (Telugu Desam Pary) MLAs -- announcing their decision to quit their party and join the TRS. If sources in the TRS are to be believed, more Congress MLAs are knocking the door of the state's governing party.

"We are targeting ten (Congress) MLAs," a senior TRS leader claimed. The TRS has repeatedly said it aims to win 16 of the total 17 seats in Telangana, leaving the remaining one to AIMIM, in the April 11 elections.

The TRS has rejected the opposition charge that the party is engineering defections. "Definitely, there should be an opposition", TRS spokesperson Abid Rasool Khan told PTI.

Khan alleged the opposition is "not taking care" of its MLAs. "What can MLAs do if they feel that in the next five years they have to work for the welfare of people, people feel they have voted wrongly and they should have voted for TRS, and they are under pressure to join TRS," he asked.

Khan claimed that MLAs are voluntarily joining the TRS because of the party's and government's "programmes and popularity." "We don't need to do any defections, what do we gain out of these defections? If MLAs have clean record, and if they want to come and support our party, we are welcoming them," he said. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader M Bhatti Vikramarka alleged the TRS government was "shameless" in encouraging defections.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was "conspiring to eliminate the opposition as he lacked courage to answer their questions," Vikramarka alleged. President of Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS), Prof. M Kodandaram told PTI there is a general concern that the TRS has become so strong that "it has gained such monopolistic control and there is a fear that this can be very harmful." "That's what most people are afraid of", he said on the TRS dominating the political landscape in the State.

Meanwhile, the TJS has decided to contest three or four Lok Sabha seats, including Malkajgiri, Karimnagar and Nizamabad, and support the Congress in the remaining constituencies. Among the six Congress MLAs who have decided to join the TRS is Maheshwaram MLA, Sabitha Indra Reddy, who had served as Home Minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state.

TRS sources said her son, Karthik Reddy, is likely to be fielded in Chevella Lok Sabha constituency. As a Congress candidate in 2014, he had lost to Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the TRS candidate at the time. Vishweshwar Reddy quit TRS before last year's Assembly elections in Telangana and joined the Congress, and is likely to be fielded as a Congress candidate in this segment in the coming poll.

Congress sources said the party is also considering to give ticket to A Revanth Reddy, one of the working presidents of the Telangana unit, in Malkajgiri. Sources also said former Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin, a former Congress MP, has declined to contest from Hyderabad constituency, represented by AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi.