The spectre of defections of MLAs from one party to other, to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti in particular, is continuing to haunt the Telangana legislature with the latest being the 12 Congress MLAs’ announcement on switching loyalties to the TRS.
Political defections are not new in the State formed five years ago. The State had witnessed shifting of 12 TDP MLAs led by senior MLA E. Dayakar Rao in 2016. The TDP MLAs formed a separate bloc consisting of more than two-thirds of the party’s strength in the Assembly before announcing their intentions to shift.
The then Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary merged them with the ruling dispensation after ascertaining that the MLAs had insulated themselves from the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law by forming a separate block. The shifting of TDP members was preceded by the switching over of loyalties of the three YSR Congress members together to the ruling party. The YSR Congress members P. Venkateswarlu, T. Venkateswarlu and Banoth Madan Lal shifted to the TRS in the same year.
The scene is no different ever since the results of the Assembly elections were announced on December 11 last year. Independent MLAs L. Ramulu and Korukanti Ramachander from Wyra and Ramagundam respectively joined the ruling party within two days of announcement of the Assembly election results on December 11 last year when TRS stormed back to power bagging 88 of the 119 seats.
Defections from the Congress in the current Assembly were kick-started by MLAs Rega Kanta Rao (Pinapaka) and Atram Sakku (Asifabad) in March first week. This was followed by a steady stream of migrations to the ruling party culminating with the decision of Tandur MLA Rohit Reddy. In the meantime, the three-time TDP MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah from Sattupalli announced his resolve to join the TRS while another MLA Mecha Nageswara Rao too is said to have prepared grounds after he held discussions with TRS leader Tummala Nageswara Rao.