Speculation about Jagga Reddy's move has already set the cat among pigeons and created turbulence in the BRS in Sangareddy district.
Published Aug 18, 2023 | 6:41 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 18, 2023 | 6:41 PM
Congress MLA Jagga Reddy with BRS working president KT Rama Rao. (Supplied)
Close on the heels of Tellam Venkata Rao abandoning the Congress for the BRS, the ruling party in Telangana appears set to land a bigger fish. Sangareddy Congress MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy, popularly known as Jagga Reddy, is understood to have decided to cross the fence.
The speculation mill has been working overtime that he might make the move any time.
Sources told South First that, although he has wanted to join the ranks of the pink party for some time now, he was uncertain whether it was the right decision.
Unable to find answers to several “what ifs”, he is understood to have put off the decision. According to the sources, Jagga Reddy was worried on three counts.
One, how it would look if the Congress came to power after he joined the BRS. Two, if he won as a Congress nominee and the BRS retained power. And finally the foreboding prospect: That he may lose the election to the BRS as a Congress nominee, and the BRS comes to power.
With elections drawing closer, however, the Sangareddy leader — easily identifiable by his characteristic flowing beard — appears to have made up his mind to join the BRS sooner than later.
The three-time legislator caught the attention of political watchers when BRS working president and IT Minister KT Rama Rao indulged in bonhomie and friendly banter with him in the Assembly lobby recently.
Jagga Reddy has remained incommunicado for quite some time now. It is said that he was is in consultation with his supporters over his intention to change his plumes to pink.
He is one of the prominent leaders in the dissident camp in the Telangana unit of the Congress.
He opposed the induction and elevation of A Revanth Reddy as president on the ground that the party leadership was giving importance to outsiders and ignoring “native” leaders. Revanth Reddy joined the Congress, leaving the TDP, in 2017.
Speculation about Jagga Reddy’s move has already set the cat among pigeons and created turbulence in the party in his district. For instance, Chinta Prabhakar, a former MLA, who has been dreaming of a win from Sangareddy on a BRS ticket, is upset.
There are other aspirants as well who want to contest from the constituency. They include Patnam Mankyam, vice-chairman of District Congress Committee, G Srihari, Prabhu Goud, and S Harikishan. They are said to have made a plea to Finance Minister T Harish Rao to stall Jagga Reddy’s entry into the BRS.
The native BRS leaders are worried that if Jagga Reddy is let in, he might even become a minister. In such a case, they feel that they would lose importance in the party.
But the rumblings in the BRS will continue only until KCR steps in. According to sources, the BRS state-level leaders are scouting for big fish from the Congress to demoralise it ahead of the election. In this context, KCR could approve the admission of Jagga Reddy into the BRS.
The party leaders are also trying to lure Damodar Rajanarasimha of Andhole, who served as deputy chief minister during the Congress regime.
Jagga Reddy began his career in politics as a municipal councilor and went on to become an MLA.
Born on July 7, 1966, in Indrakaran village in Kandi Mandal in Sangareddy district, he was elected to Sangareddy Municipality in 1986 on a BJP ticket. He went on to become the chairman of the municipality in 1995. He became an MLA for the first in 2004 on a BRS ticket, defeating his nearest BJP rival K Satyanarayana.
Jagga Reddy later joined the Congress. He won the election to the Assembly from Sangareddy in 2009 on Congress ticket and was the government whip between 2012 and 2014.
But he lost the election from Sangareddy in the 2014 Assembly elections.
He then joined the BJP and contested the by-election to the Lok Sabha from Medak, but lost again.
He then returned to the Congress. In the 2018 Assembly election, he won from Sangareddy on a Congress ticket, defeating Chinta Prabhakar. Jagga Reddy was a member of the Assembly’s Public Estimates Committee after his election in 2018.
