Tgana: Cong leaders complain to Governor about merger of 12

Congress leaders in Telangana on Tuesday complained to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had 'undermined' the anti-defection law by admitting MLAs elected on other party tickets into his party. "We explained to the Governor, citing dates, how the Chief Minister has murdered the anti-defection bill (act) and admitted MLAs elected on other parties into his party," Congress Legislature Party leader M Bhatti Vikramarka told reporters after meeting Tamilisai Soundararjan.

He was referring to the merger of 12 Congress MLAs with the TRS a few months ago. As 12 MLAs account for two-third of the CLP, which has an effective strength of 18, they will not attract provisions under the anti-defection law, political analysts had said then.

Claiming that the merger of the 12 MLAs is not legal and that the matter is pending before a court, Vikramarka said they sought disqualification of the said MLAs. He alleged that the Chief Minister had 'murdered democracy' by inducting one of the 12 MLAs, Sabita Indra Reddy, as a minister.