The opposition Congress's strength in the Telangana Assembly came down to single digits on Wednesday as its 10th legislator crossed over to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).  Congress MLA from Yellareddy, Jajala Surender met TRS working president K T Rama Rao on Wednesday and joined the party. “I took a decision to join the TRS after consulting everyone that I needed to,” he said in a letter. 

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He said he decided to support Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for the development of his constituency. Surender said Assembly election results showed how people have received the leadership of KCR benefitted by the various government schemes that were launched, including Rythu Bandhu. He was critical of the Congress leadership in the state and said there was a growing distance between the party and the people of the state.

Surender is the 10th Congress MLA to defect to the TRS this month. The TRS, which had bagged 88 seats in 119-member Assembly in the elections held in December, has crossed the 100 mark with the defection of 13 MLAs, including one leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and two independents.

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