The Congress unit of Telangana launched a 36-hour hunger strike here on Saturday in protest against the crossover of their 12 legislators to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

The demonstration saw the participation of state party president Uttam Kumar Reddy, M Bhatti Vikramarka and other MLAs and MPs of the party.

"The basic objective of the hunger strike is to infuse faith into the mind of the voters who voted for the Congress party and protest against the undemocratic measures being adopted by TRS to retain power in the state," Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao told ANI.

"The party has filed a case against the 12 members of Congress party who defected to TRS party and when the verdict is still pending in the court, the twelve members have no right to merge with TRS in the state," he added.

"Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is scared of the opposition, therefore, he is resorting to such undemocratic means," asserted Rao.

He further explained that after the hunger strike, the Congress would meet all local parties to chalk out a strategy against the TRS.

On June 6, as many as 12 out of 18 MLAs of the Congress met Telangana assembly speaker to join Rao's party.

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