Four TDP legislators likely to join TRS

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has won the maiden polls in Telangana with a wafer thin margin, is in the process of attracting legislators from other political parties. The capital city was agog with news that four out of 15 legislators of Telugu Desam Party will join the ruling party.

Prominent among them were former Minister and TDP’s City Union President T Srinivasa Yadav and former Mayor T Krishna Reddy. Another two legislators too are expected to follow suit. The TDP, however, was quick to deny the reports.

The Opposition parties are calling the TRS efforts as ‘Operation Aakarsh’, a strategy once mastered by former Congress leader YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

The TRS had won 63 seats in a House of 119 seats. Within a few weeks of assuming power, the party attracted two legislators from Congress, two from BSP and one from YSR Congress Party, taking the tally to 68.

TRS’s strategy is to weaken the Opposition and strengthen its presence in places where it is weak. Its base in the State capital and Khammam was too weak before elections.

TRS President K Chandrasekhara Rao had made some quick moves in attracting leaders from other parties. He could convince Tummala Nageshwara Rao, once a trouble shooter for TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu, to join the TRS. This gave him significant gains in Khammam, a stronghold of TDP and Left parties. The TDP, which won 15 seats that mostly represented Seemandhra voters, would be left with 11 legislators, dealing a big blow to Chandrababu’s plan to regain lost glory in Telangana.

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