35 Leaders Of KCR’s Party To Join Congress Ahead Of Telangana Polls: Sources

Hyderabad: 

K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana is bracing for a blow as 35 of its key leaders are said to be set to join the Congress ahead of the state elections due later this year. The group, led by former BRS leader Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and the state’s former minister Jupally Krishna Rao, have met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi today. Sources in the Congress said more leaders from the ruling BRS and some from the BJP will join the party at the event.

Sources said both Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao, along with their supporters, will formally join the Congress in the first week of July. The function will be held in presence of national leaders at a public meeting in Khammam, where Congress leader Bhatti Vikramarka may conclude his foot march.

Both Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao were suspended from the BRS for anti-party activities in April and have been wooed by both the BJP and the Congress. Both have their own political reasons for choosing the Congress.

Two, the BJP is not strong in Khammam, where the Congress, Left parties and Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party have traditionally been strong.

In the Munugode bypoll in November last year, the BJP candidate was defeated because the BRS and the Left parties came together.

Jupally Krishna Rao is a five-time MLA from Kollur and a former minister from Mahbubnagar, where his long-time political rival DK Aruna is a rising star in the state BJP. So going to the BJP is not an option.

Mr Reddy is seen as a strongman in Khammam, where the BRS is weak. He had managed to win as YSRCP MP in 2014, and even helped the party win three MLA seats. But he is suspected to have worked to defeat minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar in the 2018 elections and was subsequently denied MP ticket.