Gandhi joined the Congress along with four GHMC corporators. The BRS had won almost all the seats in Hyderabad and adjoining Ranga Reddy district in the last Assembly elections but now with the defection it has started to lose ground rapidly in the urban areas as well.

Most of the BRS MLAs in the city and adjoining areas were originally with the TDP and had won in 2014 on its ticket.

However, as TDP’s influence waned after Nara Chandrababu Naidu chose to shift to Vijayawada following the cash for vote case its MLAs shifted to the BRS. In the last Assembly election when the BRS miserably lost in the rural areas its urban MLAs not only held ground but also bucked the trend.

Significantly, both Prakash Goud and Arekapudi Gandhi went to meet Chandrababu Naidu last week when he was in Hyderabad after his massive win in AP. Incidentally, Telangana PCC president and chief minister A Revanth Reddy was also in TDP before he joined the Congress.

After the defections the strength of the Congress in the state Assembly has increased to 75 from 64. It has wrested the Secunderabad Cantonment seat from the BRS in the bypoll.

The BRS which had won 39 seats is down to 29. However, at least 26 MLAs will have to defect from BRS in order to effect a merger with the Congress Legislative Party (CLP).

According to another turncoat MLA Danam Nagender barring three or four MLAs the rest of the BRS Legislative party will join the Congress in the next few days. He seemed to indicate apart from BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, his son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao the rest of the MLAs will join the Congress soon.

The ruling party too wants their ducks in a row before the local polls commence in rural Telangana.