Hyderabad: After successfully accomplishing its task of taking away the main Opposition status from rival Congress party in the State Legislative Council, the ruling TRS party has now shifted its focus on denying the main Opposition status in the State Assembly.
The ruling party was trying to woo as many Congress MLAs as possible to accomplish its goal. The Congress has won 19 MLA seats in the recent Assembly elections. According to informed sources, TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has entrusted the responsibility of luring the rival party MLAs to the party fold on the shoulders of the senior leaders of the party. The senior leaders of the TRS are claming that as many as 12 MLAs of the Congress are in touch with them and are ready to cross the fence at any time. The inducements being offered to the Congress leaders also include State cabinet posts to the senior MLAs of the rival party besides other attractive inducements.
The ruling party leaders are saying that they need 12 MLAs to deny the main Opposition status to the Congress party in the House. “According to the existing rules, the Opposition political party is entitled to get the main Opposition status, if it has ten percent of the total strength of the House. This means that the Opposition requires at least 12 MLAs to get the main Opposition status. The Congress has 19 MLAs now. If 12 of its 19 MLAs cross the fence, it will not get the main Opposition status as it would have only seven MLAs,” a ruling party leader said on the condition of anonymity. On the other hand, the Congress party has maintained that none of its MLAs would cross the fence and join the ruling TRS party. (NSS)
