Hyderabad: The ground has been cleared for one more Congress MLA to join the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Chirumurthy Lingaiah, Congress MLA from Nakrekal constituency, is likely to quit the party and will join the TRS in a day or two.
After meeting Telangana state Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday, Mr Lingaiah switched off his mobile phone to avoid calls from the state Congress leadership.
Mr Lingaiah is the third Congress MLA to defect in the three months after the Assembly elections results were declared, and the fourth overall.
The Congress’s strength will fall to 16 with Mr Lingaiah’s defection, and the chances of a Congress nominee winning an MLC post have weakened further as it is now short of five MLA voters required for winning an MLC seat.
