The Congress party might face trouble in Telangana as its party members have announced that they will join the TRS party. Speculations are also that the Congress might merge with TRS which is also the ruling party. The rebel group within the Congress party might seek a formal merger of the Congress Party with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
It is one of KCR’s masterstrokes, as his party has reduced Congress to nothing in Telangana. The MLAs of the Congress party have decided to leave the Congress Party and join TRS. This can be credited to the bad performance of Congress in the Assembly elections. Though there are speculations of the Congress merging with the TRS, Congress leader Vikramarka firmly rejected these suggestions. He said, “How can Congress be merged with TRS which is a regional party,”
Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy is the most recent Congress member to announce the switch over after he met the TRS working President KT Rama Rao. Rama Rao is the son of the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. TRS sources said, “We cannot say (if two more Congress MLAs would switch over to TRS)… Otherwise, they will remain like that (without merger)… We (TRS) are not making any efforts for it.”
Congress is facing an increasing defection of MLAs which will make its prospects weaker in the Lok Sabha elections as well. The Congress party also complained about the problem of defection to the Governor of Telangana. The Party has announced that it would take the matter of defection to the newly elected Lokpal, complaining about the TRS tactics of encouraging defection.
The desperation of the Congress Party to retain its members is loud and clear. The party fears its total extinction in the Telangana state. Before the polls, there was hype that Congress was gaining strong grounds in Telangana. However, the results of assembly elections in which the Congress Party could merely secure 19 seats in 119 seats of the assembly is a proof that Congress is not worth sustaining in Telangana politics anymore.
The TRS party has played it well, and the loss of Congress in the Assembly elections led to its own MLAs being disappointed by the party’s performance. 11 members leaving for TRS, leaves the party with two options, it can either merge with the ruling TRS or cease to have any influence. The potential alliances of Congress like the TDP are also not doing well in Telangana. As TDP could only secure 2 seats in the assembly, members of the party have decided to join TRS. Congress Party and its influence will soon fade away in Telangana. It has no chance to fight against the TRS’ growing strength. KCR is playing constructive politics in the state.