Bhatti Vikramarka, the first Dalit Leader of the Opposition in the two Telugu States, is all set to lose his status with 12 MLAs elected on Congress ticket deciding to merge with the TRS Legislature Party (TRSLP).
The Congress will be left with just six MLAs now out of the 19 elected in the Assembly polls last December, if the Speaker accepts the merger proposal. TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who represents the Huzurnagar constituency, resigned from the membership after being elected as Member of Parliament from Nalgonda thus reducing the number to just six.
Mr. Vikramarka secured a place for himself in the record books as the first Dalit LoP after he was elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in January this year. However, just after four months, Mr. Vikramarka in all likelihood will lose the status as the Congress strength has come down to 6 from the required 12 to maintain the LoP status.
Dalit CM
No Dalit MLA secured this pivotal post even in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. In fact, the State saw a Dalit Chief Minister when Damodaram Sanjeevaiah was elected as the leader of the Congress party, but the LoP always eluded the community.
TRS leader K. Vijayarama Rao was perhaps the only other Dalit to have been elected as the leader of his party in the Assembly but it did not get the LoP status as the TDP numbers were more at that time. Gouthu Lachanna in 1978 and C. Madan Mohan in 1983 were the two LoPs from the backward castes while the remaining period it were the upper castes that served in that position.
The Telangana Assembly will in all likelihood complete this term without any LoP. In fact, the Congress will also lose the second largest party status to the All India Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) party that has seven MLAs in the Assembly as against the Congress party’s six now.
It means Congress will get less time than MIM, which is a friendly party of the TRS, in the Assembly debates.
