At a time Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been encouraging massive `defections’ from other parties, so that to ensure no other party should have mass-based leadership by 2019 polls, the ruling TRS has received a major set-back in Miryalaguda district, from the erstwhile Nalgonda district.

A large number of TRS functionaries, including one ZPTC member and several Sarpanches today joined Congress party in the presence of Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy and Pradesh Congress Committee President N Uttama Kumar Reddy in Miryalaguda.

While prominent leaders from other parties, including MLAs and MLCs have been shifting to TRS during last two and half years, this may be the first time that many leaders, led by Damarcharla ZPTC Shankar Nayak return to the Congress. Incidentally, all of them had joined TRS from Congress along with Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy, six months ago.

Their return has given a great boost to the Congress party in Miryalaguda district. Uttama Kumar Reddy said that ‘this is the beginning of the count down for TRS in the state”. He said that the people are now realising they can realise `desired Telangana’ only by returning back of Congress regime in 2019 polls.

Jana Reddy accused that having promised `Golden Telangana’, the TRS regime has been making the state a disastrous in development.