IT and Panchayat Raj Minister K T Rama Rao today said that the ruling Party was not coercing or luring leaders of other political parties to join the TRS.
"Those joining our Party are not children but former ministers and MLAs elected four to five times," KTR remarked.
Addressing the media along with ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav and T Padma Rao Goud at the Secretariat, KTR questioned whether it was possible to threaten or attract such senior leaders to join the ruling Party.
KTR refuted the comments of Opposition leaders that the ruling Party was luring the leaders of other parties with some offers.
"We are not offering anything - the leaders are joining the TRS solely by witnessing our various welfare schemes and developmental programs," he said.
He also pointed out that leaders changing Parties by not new and that it was a democratic right. People switching loyalties to other Parties had happened during the previous governments, too, he said.
"We cannot refuse to admit senior leaders opting to join the TRS," he maintained. "And the people are not ready to believe the cheap politics of the other Parties they used to be in."
He also lashed out at the previous governments for ignoring the power and irrigation sectors and depriving the poor of all facilities, and said that that was a major reason that the defections were now happening.