That Sinking Feeling In Telangana

With a dozen of its MLAs jumping ship, the Congress in Telangana is staring at an existential crisis

- Rahul Devulapalli

Hyderabad’s IT corridor is 12km away from the Congress party office in Telangana. What connects them though is a common problem—a high attrition rate.

In the last assembly elections held in December, the Congress won just 19 seats in the 119-member assembly. Six months later, it is in a pitiable state. Twelve of the 19 MLAs have crossed over to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). State Congress chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who was an MLA from Huzurnagar, resigned after being elected as an MP from Nalgonda. That brought down the party’s tally to six. Now, two Congress MLAs have hinted that they may join the BJP. The mood in the Congress camp is sombre, and party leaders seem to be directionless.

“Till the time somebody leaves the party, we do not know about it. I would not be surprised if a few more MLAs leave,” said a Congress leader.

Moreover, the 12 MLAs who defected to the TRS gave a representation to the assembly speaker to merge the Congress Legislature Party with the ruling TRS. The speaker accepted their request, leading to the Congress losing the status of main opposition party. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, said to be friendly to the TRS, became the second largest party in the assembly, with seven seats. The state, therefore, no longer has a formidable opposition.