Hyderabad: One more MLA of the Congress on Sunday announced that she was quitting and joining the Telangana Rashtra Samiti. With the resignation of Banoth Hari Priya, MLA from Yellandu constituency, the strength of the Congress in the Assembly will fall to 15. Three Congress MLAs — Athram Sakku, R. Kantha Rao and Chirumurthy Lingaiah — have already announced they are quitting the Congress and joining the TRS.
With these latest additions, the strength of the TRS in the House is now 96. If five more MLAs of the Congress defect, the party will not be able to claim the status of Leader of the Opposition when the Assembly meets after the Lok Sabha elections.
Deccan Chronicle had reported earlier that five Congress MLAs from North Telangana districts and four MLAs from South Telangana districts are in touch with the Chief Minister. The Congress won 10 seats in North Telangana and nine seats in South Telangana.
Mr Sakku, Mr Kantha Rao and Ms Hari Priya are from North Telangana, and Mr Lingaiah is from South Telangana.
The TRS is likely to win five MLC seats in the MLC elections under the Assembly quota. This will increase the strength of the TRS and its ally to 103 in the House.
Ms Hari Priya in her statement announcing her joining the TRS had said she was confident that Chief Minister Rao alone can solve the problems of her constituency.
She said that she will resign her membership of the House if required and contest again on a TRS ticket
