TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao administered a rude shock to the Congress and TDP on the eve of elections to the Legislative council and GHMC. Riding on wave of Warangal byelection victory, KCR on Thursday admitted two important leaders from Hyderabad city into TRS fold. Secunderabad Cantonment MLA G Sayanna and Congress MLC S Prabhakar, from old city, switched over to the ruling party, by accepting the Pink Kanduva from the CM KCR in the secretariat itself. This happened even as speculation has been rife about the possible joining of Danam Nagender, former Congress minister and Greater Hyderabad Congress president. Lending credence to the speculation, Danam Nagender bunked the important meeting of Congress Coordination Committee held in Gandhi Bhanvan today to discuss the party’s preparedness to meet the challenges thrown up by Council elections and GHMC polls.
KCR appears to be determined to win the GHMC elections. The party fared badly in the 2014 Assembly elections and stood third after TDP-BJP combine and MIM. Many TDP candidates won the election, thanks to the presence of sizable number of Seemandhra voters. In the aftermath of the division, hurt by the bifurcation of the state, Seemandhra voters preferred TDP to TRS and Congress in twin cities. But, immediately after the formation Telangana, KCR hit back and successfully weaned away many MLAs from TDP. Talasani Srinivas Yadav, MLA from Sanath Nagar joined TRS and became a minister. Teegela Krishna Reddy, who won from Maheswaram also joined. Now, Secunderabad cantonment also is gone. Barring one or two MLAs, other TDP MLAs are also said to be in touch with TRS boss.
Even though Congress S MLC Prabhakar is not an influential leader in the party, the defection of Sayanna, a four-time MLA, is a major setback for the TDP. He is not only a senior leader of the party, but also a dalit face of the organization. After sitting in Opposition for many years, Sayanna, now, suddenly realized that sitting idle in the opposition benches won’t fetch any benefit to the people of the constituency. He spoke like any other leader defecting to other party. In his view CM KCR was developing the state and Hyderabad into global destinations. Sayanna also resigned from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board as a member.
Congress MLC Prabhakar, a first time legislator, praised the 2BHK program which KCR launched last week. He said KCR’s hadproved efficiency by ensuring uninterrupted power supply to twin cities “I feel proud of working under the leadership of KCR,” he said. Having lost so many strong MLAs, it is not know yet how TDP president Chandrababu Naidu reacts to the loss of Sayanna.