Hyderabad, June 6: After a defeat in Assembly elections in Telangana in December 2018, the 12 of 18 MLAs of Indian National Congress met Assembly Speaker P Srinivas Reddy and gave him a representation to merge the Congress Legislature Party with ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. This comes after Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief Uttam Kumar Reddy tendered his resignation from Assembly after being elected to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda.

Reacting to the development, Reddy said, "Congress will fight it democratically, we are looking for the Speaker since morning, he is missing." He also asked for the media's help in finding the speaker. In March, the Congress MLAs had said that they would join the TRS. Telangana General Election Results 2019: TRS Wins 9 Seats, BJP 4, Congress 3.

Tweet by ANI:

According to the rule, 2/3rd of the elected members are required for merger of a political party. As 12 MLA account for 2/3rd of CLP, they will not attract anti-defection law.

If Telangana Speaker accepts their request, the Congress Party will lose the Opposition party status as its strength will come down to six. In Telangana, Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM holds seven members in the assembly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party has just one.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2019 05:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).