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HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: In a major boost to the opposition Congress in Telangana ahead of the assembly elections, former minister Jupalli Krishna Rao and ex-MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Monday decided to join the Congress. Krishna Rao, Srinivasa Reddy along with their followers and some other leaders will join the Congress on July 2 at a public meeting to be addressed by Gandhi in Khammam district.
State Congress chief Revanth Reddy, MPs Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, MLA Sitakka and other leaders were present at the meeting held at the AICC headquarters. Over 30 Congress leaders from the combined Khammam, Mahbubnagar and Nizamabad districts also attended the meeting. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Srinivasa Reddy said that after detailed discussions with followers and well-wishers during the last six months and examining all aspects, he decided to join the Congress.
Winds of change are blowing in Telangana.
More and more people are joining us to take forward the message of love and prosperity, boosting the prospects of the Congress party in a big way.
Today senior leader of Telangana joined Congress party… pic.twitter.com/1vLGzPN1aC
– Congress (@INCIndia) 26 June 2023
He said he took the decision after coming to the conclusion that only the Congress could stop the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) from coming back to power in Telangana. Srinivasa Reddy said that he got several surveys done which showed that 80 per cent people were against the BRS government. He said that he has received proposals from several parties including BJP and Congress and also from smaller parties. They also discussed a proposal to form a new regional party to counter the BRS, but realized that such a move would split the anti-KCR (as Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is popularly known) votes.
The former MP said the people of Telangana would be indebted to the Congress for the creation of Telangana state. He alleged that KCR can win elections in 2014 and again in 2018 by making false and impractical promises and misleading people. Krishna Rao said he quit because of the “corruption, family rule and fascist outlook” of the BRS. Both the leaders were suspended from the BRS in April for anti-party activities.
Krishna Rao resigned from the Congress in 2011 to join the BRS. He was elected from Kollapur constituency in Mahbubnagar district in 2014 on a BRS ticket. MLA Harshavardhan Reddy, who had defeated him in the 2018 elections, switched his loyalty from the Congress to the BRS after the assembly elections, after which he felt sidelined in the BRS.
Srinivasa Reddy, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Khammam in 2014 on a YSR Congress Party ticket, later switched his loyalty to the BRS. He was unhappy after KCR denied him the party ticket for the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His induction is expected to be a major setback for the Congress party in the combined Khammam and Mahbubnagar districts. Both the leaders are considered influential in their respective districts and can influence the election outcome in some constituencies.
Srinivas Reddy’s move is being seen as a major setback for the BRS in Khammam district, located on Telangana’s border with Andhra Pradesh. This district has never been a stronghold of KCR’s party. The Congress is said to have accepted Srinivas Reddy’s demand for allotting tickets to its supporters in eight of the 10 assembly seats in Khammam district.
In the 2018 elections, out of these 10 seats, the Congress won seven and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) two. BRS could win only one seat. However, five Congress MLAs later joined the BRS.
