Congress in Telangana on Monday 11 March, announced it would boycott the MLC election on Tuesday, accusing ruling TRS of poaching four of its MLAs and a TDP legislator 'in a brazen manner by adopting all illegal means.'
The decision was taken in protest against the defection of its MLAs being 'encouraged' by the ruling TRS ahead of the MLC polls, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
"KCR ji (Chief Miniser K Chandrasekhar Rao), who assumed office after swearing in as per Constitution, violated the oath of office and admitted Telugu Desam and Congress MLAs into the TRS in a brazen manner by adopting all illegal means," he told reporters here.
"In protest against this, Congress is boycotting this MLC election so that Telangana people know the undemocratic, and anti-Constitutional, illegal actions being resorted to by the Chief Minister in this MLC election," Reddy said.
He was referring to the announcement of Congress MLAs – MLAs – Rega Kantha Rao, Atram Sakku, Chirumarti Lingaiah and Haripriya Naik -- and a TDP MLA (Sandra Venkata Veeraiah) to join TRS in the interest of development of their constituencies.