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Congress's flirty dozen ogle TRS hook-up

After MP, Karnataka, Raj and Guj, party now faces threat from its own in Telangana

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Congress workers protest at the Gandhi Statue entrance to the assembly against TRS in Hyderabad on Thursday
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Before it could gather itself from a humiliating defeat in Lok Sabha polls and attend to its fumbling regimes in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan, the Congress got into a fresh mess in Telangana where 12 of its 18 legislators sought a merger with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

The dozen lawmakers together cross the two-third majority mark, sailing safely past provisions of the anti-defection law. They met Telangana assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and asked that the Congress legislature party be merged with the ruling TRS.

Rebel Congress legislator GV Ramana Reddy said the MLAs had decided to work with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for the development of the state.

"We held a special meeting of the Congress legislature party… We gave a representation to the speaker and requested him to merge us with the TRS," Reddy said.

Talasani Srinivas Yadav, a minister in the KCR government, said, "They don't trust their party leadership so they are saying the TRS government is better as there is development and welfare in the state."

While Congress brass in Delhi pored over the unfolding situation, state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, who resigned as MLA after being elected to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda, called it a "shameless and brazen murder" of democracy.

"KCR buys a few @INCTelangana MLAs and the defectors apply for merger of CLP into TRSLP even while their disqualification petitions are pending with the Speaker," the state Congress chief tweeted.

Later, Reddy along with other Congress leaders were taken into preventive custody while they were protesting outside the assembly.

"We will fight it democratically… We are looking for the Speaker since morning, he is missing," said Reddy.

The Congress won 19 out of 119 seats in Telangana during last year's elections.

Meanwhile, a high-voltage drama unfolded for the party in Punjab. In what can be called downsizing, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh changed Navjot Singh Sidhu's portfolio from urban affairs to power and energy in the cabinet meet. Sidhu was not available for comments.

The CM blamed him for the party's poor performance in urban areas in Punjab during the Lok Sabha polls, and Sidhu stayed away from a cabinet meeting and said he could not be taken for granted as he had been a performer throughout.

Reflecting on Congress' not-so-good performance in Punjab where it was slated to win much more than the eight seats it got, Sidhu said, "It is a collective responsibility. My department has been singled out publicly…I have been a performer throughout. I am answerable to the people of Punjab."

Congress sources in Delhi said, the party high command is in touch with both Amarinder Singh and Sidhu and the issue was being resolved.

Fires Everywhere

  • In Haryana Congress, Hooda camp trains guns at state chief Ashok Tanwar for poor showing in polls
  • In Raj, CM Gehlot and deputy Sachin Pilot trade blame for poll rout
  • In MP, ruling Cong struggling to save a govt being run with support of BSP and independents
  • In Gujarat and K’taka, there’s worry that some Congress MLAs may join the saffron camp
  • In Punjab, a defiant Sidhu fires salvo at CM, skips key Cabinet meeting, gets ‘downsized’
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