The Week India – June 30, 2019

34 THE WEEK • JUNE 30, 2019

POLITICS

TELANGANA

That sinking

feeling

PTI

With a dozen of its MLAs jumping

ship, the Congress in Telangana is

staring at an existential crisis

BY RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

HYDERABAD’S IT CORRIDOR is

12km away from the Congress party

offi ce in Telangana. What connects

them though is a common prob-

lem—a high attrition rate.

In the last assembly elections held

gress chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy,

who was an MLA from Huzurnagar,

resigned after being elected as an MP

from Nalgonda. Th at brought down

the party’s tally to six. Now, two

Congress MLAs have hinted that they

may join the BJP. Th e 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 de-

fected to the TRS gave a representa-

tion to the assembly speaker to

merge the Congress Legislature Party

with the ruling TRS. Th e speaker

accepted their request, leading to

the Congress losing the status of

main opposition party. Th e All India

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, said

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 Con-