BRS Rajendranagar MLA Prakash Goud calls on Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, in a prelude to joining the Congress

Congress leaders Patnam Mahender Reddy, Advisor to the Chief Minister (Public Affairs) Vem Narender Reddy and former MLA Mynampally Hanumantha Rao were with Prakash Goud when he met the chief minister.

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Subhash Reddy joins BJP

His decision comes close on the heels of BRS former MLA from Uppal Bethi Subhash Reddy switching his loyalty to the BJP on Thursday.

He joined hands with BJP Malkajgiri Lok Sabha candidate Eatala Rajender after joining the saffron party in the presence of central minister Hardeep Sigh Puri at Eatala’s residence in Shameerpet in Hyderabad.

While resigning to the BRS, Subhash Reddy said he was unhappy with KCR not consulting him when deciding the candidate for either the Uppal seat in the Assembly election or the candidate for the Malakajgiri Lok Sabha seat though he remained a loyal servant to the party.

The BRS supremo, while addressing party nominees for the Lok Sabha elections at the Telangana Bhavan on Thursday, had said that Congress MLAs were feeling ill at ease as it was the BJP that was calling shots in the grand old party, implying that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had his roots in RSS ideology.

KCR had even said that though the Congress MLAs were eager to join the BRS, he only asked them to hold on for now.

The ground level migration

Though the BRS is riding the high horse that it holds attraction for the MLAs in other parties, at the ground level, the migration is in the reverse direction.

Already three BRS MLAs — Danam Nagender (Khairatabad) Kadiam Srihari (Station Ghanpur) and Tellam Venakat Rao (Bhadrachalam) — have joined the Congress camp.

Prakash Goud’s decision to join the ranks of the Congress, lent stability to the Revanth Reddy government, little by little.

Though the Damocles sword of anti-defection law hangs precariously on the heads of the MLAs who are joining the Congress now, the party nonetheless has kept the doors open.

The BRS has already pressed for the disqualification of Danam Nagender since the Congress fielded him as its candidate for the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat. At the same time, Kadiam Srihari announced that he had joined the Congress.

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The question of shifting loyalties

The Congress leaders have intensified engineering defections from the BRS in the wake of the campaign by the BRS that the Congress government would fall like nine pins after the Lok Sabha elections and that the BJP was there biding its time to strike.

KCR and his son and former Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) have been saying that Revanth Reddy would defect to the BJP, as he has roots in RSS ideology.

The BRS has been bleeding heavily with seemingly no end to desertions even though KCR and KTR have been trying to retain them. The domino effect, triggered by Peddapally MP Borlakunta Venkatesh Netha who quit the BRS and joined the Congress, has never stopped since then.

The BRS has seen party heavyweights like K Keshava Rao, his daughter and Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, former minister P Mahender Reddy and his wife and Viakarabad ZP chairperson Sunitha and several leaders of the party in the GHMC limits joining the Congress.

The sitting MPs who left KCR’s company were MP Gaddam Ranjith Reddy who joined the Congress and is now in the fray for the Chevella Lok Sabha seat as its candidate.

The exit of BRS MP BB Patil was another hard knock that the pink party had suffered. He joined the BJP and is now its candidate for his native Zaheerabad Lok Sabha seat. In the Nagarkurnool-SC seat too, the party suffered a body blow when its sitting MP Pothunganti Ramulu joined the BJP.

The saffron party has fielded his son Bharat for the seat. The question that haunts the BRS leaders is how KCR is going to stop this haemorrhage of leaders from the party.

(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)