After meeting KTR, Krishna Mohan Reddy said that he had decided to continue in the BRS and that he was sorry he had strayed to the Congress.
Published Jul 31, 2024 | 12:08 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 31, 2024 | 12:08 AM
Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy rejoined BRS in the presence of KTR (X)
In an unexpected volte-face, Gadwal BRS MLA Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, who joined the Congress earlier this month returned to his native party on Tuesday, 30 July.
The Telangana MLA, who apparently felt suffocated in the Congress, has returned to BRS. He met party-working President KT Rama Rao in the BRS office in the Assembly and expressed his desire to come back home.
Krishna Mohan Reddy’s decision to go back to BRS is believed to have upset the Congress’ plans to spirit away two-thirds of the pink party MLAs and merge them as one bloc into the Congress, similar to what the BRS had done when it merged the Congress Legislature Party with the BRS when it was in power.
After meeting KTR, Krishna Mohan Reddy said that he had decided to continue in the BRS and that he was sorry he had strayed to the Congress. He said that after joining the Congress, no one had bothered about him which made him realise his mistake of leaving the BRS. He is expected to meet party supremo KCR and seek redemption for jumping the fence.
After Krishna Mohan Reddy’s sudden decision, the Congress circles are wondering why he decided to go back to his native party and what strategy the BRS played to get the turncoat MLA back into its fold.
As optics are crucial for a party to get its way, the return of the BRS MLA might set off second doubts in other BRS MLAs who earlier joined the Congress. It is what the BRS leaders might be trying to do. They are already claiming that before long, more number of BRS MLAs would return.
In another interesting development, Badrachalam BRS MLA T Venkata Rao, who too had joined the Congress earlier, met KTR on the same day raising eyebrows. However, there has been no news on whether he too is contemplating going back to the pink party.
After the Congress came to power in Telangana after the Assembly elections in November 2023, BRS MLAs began defecting to the Congress in search of greener pastures. This continued further after the Lok Sabha elections too as the BRS drew a blank. As many as 10 MLAs including Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy joined the Congress, leaving the BRS.
Krishna Mohan Reddy was admitted to the Congress by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at his Jubilee Hills residence on 6 July. The party took him into the Congress against a lot of opposition from the local Congress leaders in Gadwal. Former ZP chairperson Saritha Tirupataiah and her supporters opposed him as she lost the Assembly election from Gadwal against him.
Congress MP from Nagarkurnool Mallu Ravi counselled with Saritha that she should not raise objection as getting MLAs from other parties was important now to ensure stability to the Congress government. Telangana in-charge Deepa Das Munsi also spoke to Saritha before giving the green signal to Krishna Mohan Reddy to join the Congress.
But it appears, Krishna Mohan Reddy was unable to get along with the local Congress leaders and decided that returning to the BRS is a better bet than staying in the Congress, where he seems to have been feeling that he was a persona non grata.
(Edited by Neena)
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