Leaders from the grand old party’s Telangana unit are also claiming that the defections are an attempt by TRS supremo (and Telangana chief minister) K. Chandrashekar Rao to merge the Congress’s legislature party into his own by getting 2/3rds of the Congress MLAs to his side. “Yes, we have learnt that a few more of our MLAs are in talks with the TRS to defect. They have become sellable commodities, as the TRS is offering them money to switch sides," said an office bearer from the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC). Even after the 2014 assembly elections, the Congress had lost eight of its 21 MLAs to the TRS. Political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy said that chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is essentially trying to establish his authority by weakening the main opposition in the state .

Source: Mint April 21, 2019 12:22 UTC