Kiran Reddy faces trial by fire - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: The Congress retained power in the 2009 elections with a strength of 158 MLAs, 10 more than the magic figure of 148 legislators. It faced a setback with the resignation of three party MLAs joining the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

With the merger of Praja Rajyam Party of Chiranjeevi minus the Jagan group MLAs, the strength of the Congress in the House remained unchanged.

With the merger of PRP with the Congress, the ruling party's strength in the House has risen to 173 legislators. However, from among the Congress legislators, 26 switched their loyalty to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had floated the YSR Congress party to punish the Congress for the 'humiliating treatment' meted out to the family of YSR after his demise.

The Congress as of now enjoys a strength of 148 MLAs even in the wake of the Jagan group planning to topple the government with a no-confidence motion in the Assembly.

The MIM with strength of seven members will no doubt come forward to the rescue of the ruling party and thus save the State government from being toppled.

But what will happen if the TRS with its tally going up after two Congress and one Congress associate member joining the party and the BJP, CPI and CPI-M worked against the government if voting takes place?

Amidst the fluid political scenario prevailing in the State, the Kiran Kumar Reddy government might be pushed further into a danger zone if a few more Congress legislators from the Telangana region decided to quit.

Therefore, it is a challenging and crucial period for the Kiran government. Even a single wrong step in resolving the contentious Telangana crisis might spell doom for its survival.

Seven more Telangana MLAs are said to be keeping their caps on to join TRS if the post-Eid promise of the Congress on T proves unsatisfactory. The TDP is waiting for such a situation so that it could move a no-confidence motion and force the State to a midterm poll.

Therefore, the Winter Session of the Assembly, likely to start in two weeks, might become a platform for dramatic twists in the State. Taking undue advantage of the piquant situation faced by the ruling party, the YSR Congress party and the TRS were menacingly challenging the TDP, which has adequate strength, to move a 'no confidence motion' against the State government.

In the event of the main Opposition party deciding to move no-trust motion, the winter session will become a testing time for the chief minister to escape without being bruised.