HYDERABAD: The local body polls, which will be held from 6 May (in three phases) in Telangana, will be a survival test for a severely weakened Congress, given that now 11 of its 19 MLAs have defected to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The TRS swept the polls, winning 88 of the 119 seats, while the grand old party won 19. However, 11 Congress MLAs have already defected to the TRS, which is now looking to poach a few more opposition MLAs. He conceded that the TRS, led by chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, is still trying to poach a few more Congress MLAs as well. However, the local body or Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) elections have not been devoid of any controversies this time.

Source: Mint May 05, 2019 13:30 UTC