Congress loses main Opposition status in Council

Hyderabad : The Congress party got another shock on Friday after Telangana State Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud recognised the merger of Congress Legislature Party in Council with TRS Legislature Party. 

Four rebel MLCs of Congress party - Akula Lalitha, T. Santosh Kumar, M.S. Prabhakar Rao and K. Damoder Reddy called on Council Chairman on Friday morning asking him to recognise their merger with the TRS party in the Council. Acting on their petition, the Chairman issued orders recognising their merger. 

With this merger, the Congress party's strength in Council has been reduced to just two members - Mohammed Ali Shabbir and Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy. Since at least 10% of total strength in the House is required to get the status of main opposition, the Congress has now lost this status and Shabbir Ali is bound to lose the status of Leader of Opposition.