MLC Elections: Two More TDP Members To Join TRS?

The three main political parties in Telangana - TRS, Congress and Telugu Desam - were busy with working out strategies to win the MLA quota MLC elections to be held on June 1, as the vacant posts are six but seven candidates are in the fray.

The ruling TRS has fielded five candidates in the contest. The main opposition party the Congress, and the TDP have fielded one each.

The opposition parties' calculation was that the ruling party had no strength to win even four seats, but the TRS fielded five candidates. So, given the TRS' track record of engineering defections, the opposition parties are more concerned about their MLAs shifting loyalties in the last minute.

The TDP has therefore kept its MLAs in a secret place. The Congress too has kept its MLAs in Golconda Resorts to see that they will not be lured by the TRS.

A version doing the rounds is that the Congress will be in the safe zone as its existing MLAs are firm in making their candidate Akula Lalitha win. Political analysts are predicting that it will be the TDP candidate or the TRS' fifth candidate that will taste defeat in this election.

It is also being said that the TRS has already succeeded in attracting TDP MLAs, but TDP leaders are stating that some TRS MLAs would cast their vote for TDP candidate Vem Narender Reddy.

The MLC election has thus turned into a thriller.

For those unfamiliar with the numbers, the TRS won 63 MLAs in the general elections. Two MLAs each from the BSP and the YSR Congress, five from the TDP and four from Congress joined the TRS after that, making the number 76. The MIM has already declared that it will extend its support to the TRS. Including a nominated MLA, the TRS' strength has thus reached 85.

In the last elections, the Congress won 21 MLA seats. The independent candidate from the Narsampet constituency Donthi Madhava Reddy joined the Congress, but the Congress lost four MLAs who defected to the ruling party. Due to this, the Congress' strength has reduced to 17. But even with that, the Congress has the numbers to make its candidate win the election comfortably. The Congress will face a problem only if the ruling party attracts the Congress MLAs with some secret sops.

It is the TDP that is in a troublesome situation. The TDP won 15 MLA seats in the general elections. With the BJP's five members' support, its strength reached 20, but five TDP MLAs defected to the ruling party.

Kukatpally MLA Madhavaram Krishna Rao joined the TRS the very next day of Mahanadu, shocking the TDP. Following this, the TDP, as mentioned, has kept its MLAs in a hotel in the Rangareddy district. It is learnt that the BJP MLAs too have been lodged in that hotel.

The present strength of the TDP is just 15 MLAs, and it needs two more candidates to win the election. But the TDP is confident of making its candidate Vem Narender Reddy win the election.

The TDP leaders are stating that the TRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was giving higher priority to the MLAs who had joined from other political parties, and that was making the original TRS MLAs unhappy, and the unhappy MLAs would therefore cast their vote for the TDP candidate. TDP senior leaders Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Revanth Reddy have already chalked out an action plan to make the TRS MLAs cast their vote for the TDP candidate.

Who wins the election will be known only on the evening of June 1 evening, but all political parties are conducting secret camps in hotels and saying that their MLAs would come directly to the Assembly on Monday to cast their votes.

There was speculation today that two more TDP MLAs would shift their loyalties to the TRS. The TRS will easily grab five MLC seats if two more TDP candidates defect to the TRS, at the cost of the TDP's MLC candidate. (NSS)