Congress’ MLA count reaches 70 in Assembly, eyes two-thirds majority
Hyderabad: The Congress’ strength in the Legislative Assembly has increased to 70 with the joining of five BRS MLAs so far. Another 15 BRS MLAs, mostly from Greater Hyderabad limits, are expected to join the Congress before the commencement of the monsoon session of Assembly in July.
The strength of the main opposition BRS in the Assembly came down from 39 to 33. The Congress is aiming for a merger of the BRS Legislative Party (BRSLP) with the Congress Legislative Party. Another option is recognising the defected BRS MLAs as a separate group in the Assembly on the lines of Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde model in Maharashtra.
In either case, it needs the defection of a two-third of the total BRS MLAs to avoid the disqualification of MLAs. The BRS has 38 MLAs at present. To avoid disqualification, 25 BRS MLAs have to defect to merge with Congress or get recognised as a separate group in the Assembly.
So far, five BRS MLAs have joined Congress and for merger of the BRSLP with the CLP, it requires the support of 20 more MLAs. The buzz in the Congress circles is that 15 MLAs are already in touch with the Congress and negotiations are on with five more MLAs and all these 20 MLAs will join the Congress by the second week of July.
The Congress government is planning to hold an Assembly session from the third week of July and the ruling party aims for the merger of the BRSLP with the CLP by July second week.
One more option doing the rounds in Congress circles is that instead of a merger, the defected 25 BRS MLAs will be recognised as a 'separate group' in the Assembly like the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde's breakaway group in Maharashtra. Later, the merger of the BRS breakaway group with the CLP will be considered.
The BRS, which had a strength of 103 MLAs in Assembly prior to the 2023 Assembly polls, was reduced to 39 MLAs. After the death of BRS Secunderabad Cantonment MLA Lasya Nanditha in a road mishap in February 2024, the BRS tally came down to 38.
Prior to the Lok Sabha polls, three BRS MLAs (Kadiam Srihari, Danam Nagender and Tellam Venkat Rao) joined the Congress, bringing down BRS MLAs to 35. After the Lok Sabha polls, two more BRS MLAs (Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and M Sanjay Kumar) joined Congress, reducing its strength to 33.
The Congress is aiming for a two-thirds majority in the Assembly. For that, it needs to have 80 MLAs. At present, its strength has increased to 70. It requires 10 more BRS MLAs to secure a two-third majority in the Assembly. Its pre-poll ally CPI has one MLA. If it is also considered, the Congress has a majority of 71 MLAs at present.
