Four leaders of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) including former state Minister G Vinod were expelled from the party on Friday for contesting the elections against party wishes.
Citing 'anti-party' activities, the TRS expelled Vinod, who is contesting from Bellampally on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket and three others who were contesting as independents; Shanker from Shadnagar, Jalandhar Reddy from Makthal and Gajjela Nagesh from Secunderabad Cantonment.
In October, TRS Member of Legislative Council Ramulu Naik was suspended from the party for shifting loyalties towards the Congress. This came after reports that Ramulu, who was disgruntled with the TRS for denying him a seat at Yellandu, had met the Telangana Congress Committee chairman RC Kuntia at a resort.
Ramulu is a political leader from the ST (Lambada) community and MLC from Narayankhet. He was also one of the founding members of the TRS.
In November, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) expelled 24 leaders from its ranks for a period of six years, for contesting against the official candidates of the Congress party and its allies in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, refusing to withdraw their nomination.
The list of names, released by Disciplinary Action Committee Chairman, M Kodanda Reddy, includes several dissidents who were unhappy with being denied a ticket including a former state Minister, Boda Janardhan, from Chennur constituency.
Many leaders within the Congress were also upset at the party-led alliance giving away the seats that they wished to contest, to their allies; the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
The leaders had claimed that the Mahakutami was handing out tickets to those who had defected from other parties and those who had lost more than three elections consecutively.
Telangana will go to the polls on December 7.
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