12 of 18 Cong MLAs demand merger of CLP into TRS LP
The Congress in Telangana has been reduced to a non-entity in the Legislative Assembly after 12 of its 18 MLAs met the Speaker on Thursday and sought merger of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) into ruling TRS Legislature Party (TRSLP).
Speaker P Srinivas Reddy accepted the request of the 12 MLAs considering the fact they constituted two-thirds of the Congress Legislature Party, a requirement for merger under the anti-defection law.
A bulletin from the Assembly on Thursday night said seats had been allotted to the 12 MLAs along with the members of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi Legislature Party in the House.
Unless the merger is reversed, the Congress is set to lose its Opposition Party status in the Assembly as its strength has come down to six.
The development came as a deadly blow to the Congress, which is facing trouble in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress Governments are on the verge of collapse, following the drubbing at the hands of BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress on Thursday termed as “daylight murder of democracy” the way 12 of its 18 MLAs in Telangana quit the party to join the ruling TRS.
Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said this was not a healthy practice for the country and it amounted to butchering of people’s mandate, which the people of the southern State would never forgive.
“The way the people’s mandate and democratic norms are being butchered, this is something which India should not get used to. Indians should not get used to this kind of daylight murder of democracy,” Khera told reporters.
He said just because somebody was in power, had access to resources and thought he could control agencies, “it does not mean he has got unbridled powers and that he should misuse those powers and kill democracy”.
Khera said these 12 MLAs were elected by the voters, who rejected the TRS and voted for the Congress. “This is a murder of their mandate. India may ignore it today, but it will never forget this daylight murder of democracy,” he added.
The Congress had won just 19 seats out of 119 in Telangana Assembly polls held in December 2018, while the ruling TRS retained power for second term with a landslide majority by winning 88 seats.
The Congress was given the Main Opposition status in the Assembly as it won 10 per cent of the total seats. Subsequently, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka became the Leader of Opposition after party MLAs elected him as CLP leader.
With latest defections, the Congress has been stripped of the Main Opposition status in the House and Mallu lost LoP status.
Out of 19 Congress MLAs, TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who was elected from Huzurnagar Assembly seat tendered his resignation on Wednesday, after he contested and won from Nalgonda Lok Sabha recently.
With this, Congress MLAs’ strength has come down to 18. With 12 more MLAs defecting now, its tally in Assembly has come down to mere 6, which is one less than AIMIM, which has 7 MLAs.
It requires the support of two-third of total MLAs of a party to seek merger of their Legislature Party into another to escape the provisions of Anti-Defection Law and escape disqualification for defections.
For Congress, which has 18 MLAs now, it requires the support of 12 MLAs to seek merger.
Exactly, 12 MLAs met Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy on Thursday and submitted a letter seeking merger into TRSLP.
The TRS adopted same policy in Telangana Legislative Council where CLP was merged into TRSLP in December 2018, soon after winning Assembly polls after four Congress MLCs joined TRS.
The Congress was stripped of the Main Opposition status in the Legislative Council.
Eleven out of 19 Congress MLAs announced to join Congress even before Lok Sabha polls were held.
Though ‘merger attempts’ were made before LS polls, it did not materialise as it required the support of 2 more MLAs.
In recent Lok Sabha polls, the Congress bounced back by winning three LS seats out of 17, which delayed merger.
However, the Congress fared badly in zilla parishad, mandal parishad polls in the results announced two days ago, where the ruling TRS made a clean sweep.
This made Congress MLAs to rethink about their political future again, who have decided to merge into TRS.