Hyderabad, Mar 4 (IANS): The Telangana state Congress staged a sit-in at the Assembly premises, here on Sunday, protesting against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for allegedly engineering defections in the opposition party.

The party announced that it would wage a full scale constitutional battle against Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao who engineered defection of two Congress MLAs -- Athram Sakku and Rega Kantha Rao -- to the TRS ahead of elections to the state Legislative Council, scheduled on March 12.

Wearing black badges, state Congress chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and other MLAs and MLCs staged the protest.

The Congress leaders said despite getting majority in the recent elections, the TRS was trying to engineer defections to ensure that there is no opposition to it in the state.

Reddy accused KCR of turning Telangana into a symbol of oppression and injustices.

He demanded immediate disqualification from the House of both MLAs to deprive them their voting rights in the MLC elections. A complaint would also be lodged with the Election Commission seeking their immediate disqualification, he added.

Reddy said it was essential for all, especially the elected representatives, to honour the decision of the people to facilitate the functioning of state in a democratic manner.

CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka accused KCR of murdering the democracy in Telangana. He said the Congress would expose the unconstitutional and undemocratic practices of KCR.