Exodus over; henceforth no CLP, only TRSLP

Hyderabad: In an unusual but expected development, Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy on Thursday gave his approval for the merger of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti Legislature Party (TRSLP).

In a day of high drama, 12 Congress MLAs had a lunch meeting with the TRS working president K T Rama Rao before submitting letters with regard to the merger the CLP with TRSLP. After getting the nod from Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the Congress MLAs submitted a request to the Speaker seeking their merger into TRS.

The request was signed by TRS MLAs Kandala Upender Reddy, Jajala Surender, Haripriya Banoth, Devi Reddy Sudheer Reddy, Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy, Chirumarthi Lingaiah, Kantha Rao Rega, Patlolla Sabitha Indra Reddy, Athram Sakku, Beeram Harshavardhan Reddy, Vanama Venkateswara Rao and Rohith Reddy.

They informed the Speaker that they had resolved to merge into the TRS with effect from Thursday and that they constituted two-thirds of total members of Congress Legislature Party, out of 18 members in the State Legislative Assembly and agreed for such merger as required under Sub-para (2) of Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India, as such, they may be treated as Members of Telangana Rashtra Samithi Legislature Party.

This was followed by a communication from Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who is also the Leader of the TRSLP, to the Speaker asking him to accept the request of the Congress MLAs and finally, with the Speaker's consent, their defection was formalised into merger with the TRS.

"The Speaker has taken note that the said Twelve (12) members of the Congress Legislature Party who constitute two-thirds of its total members in the Telangana Legislative Assembly are deemed to have been merged with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi Legislature Party in Telangana Legislative Assembly in terms of Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

Accordingly, seats are allotted to them along with members of Telangana Rashtra Samithi Legislature Party in the House," said a communiqué issued by the Telangana Legislature Secretary Dr V Narasimha Charyulu.

With the merger having been complete, the strength of the ruling party in the Assembly has increased to 104 including the nominated MLA in the House of 118 (one vacancy). Sources said the speaker may issue bulletin on the merger and this would pave way for the expansion of KCR's Cabinet. It is also being speculated that the decision of the Speaker has cleared the way for senior Congress MLA Sabitha Indra Reddy to get a berth in the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, the Congress is contemplating to move the court on Friday. TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said this act of the TRS has turned democracy into a farce. "Sanctity of the Assembly has been violated completely," he said. It is unfortunate that the Speaker did not consider the complaint of the CLP seeking disqualification of the MLAs who had defected.

He said while the Speaker gave time to the defected MLAs on Thursday, he was not available to the CLP leaders and did not show any inclination to meet them but by evening issued a notification approving the merger of the CLP with the TRS, he added.