BRS leaders are making a beeline to shake hands with Chief Minister and Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy with increasing regularity.
File photos of Revanth Reddy and K Chandrashekar Rao. (Supplied)
It is party-hopping time in Telangana with the Lok Sabha elections around the corner.
The Congress — the ruling party in Telangana — holds an irresistible attraction to the leaders in the BRS, which has lost all its sheen after its defeat in last year’s Assembly election.
Leaders of the BRS are making a beeline to shake hands with Chief Minister and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief A Revanth Reddy with increasing regularity.
On Friday, 16 February, Vikarabad Zilla Parishad Chairperson Patnam Sunitha Mahender Reddy met the chief minister along with her husband and former minister Patnam Mahender Reddy on the premises of the Assembly.
Sunitha, who is expecting a party ticket for the Chevella Lok Sabha seat, has already resigned from the BRS and sent the letter to party president K Chandrashekar Rao.
On Friday, the Reddys drove to Gandhi Bhavan and met Telangana in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi, where Sunitha joined the grand old party.
Also, former Hyderabad mayor Bonthu Ramamohan, his coporator-wife Sridevei, and Kancharla Chandrasekhar Reddy have already donned the Congress robes, bidding goodbye to the BRS.
Chandrasekhar Reddy is the father-in-law of actor Allu Arjun, and is eyeing a ticket from the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat.
Former deputy mayor Baba Fasiyuddin of the BRS has also joined the Congress, while Backward Class (BC) leader Neelam Madhu, who unsuccessfully contested on a BSP ticket from Patancheru in the recent Assembly election, made a grand entry into the party in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday.
Along with him was Indira Shobhan, who left the Congress and later joined the YSRTP and then the AAP, returning to the Congress fold.
Neelam Madhu left the BRS and joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections after he was promised the ticket for Patancheru.
But the party chose Kata Srinivas Goud over her at the eleventh hour. Goud lost to BRS nominee Gudem Mahipal Reddy.
Other leaders who are likely to join the Congress include Rangareddy Zilla Parishad Chairperson Anitha Reddy, former Hyderabad mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy, and Hyderabad deputy mayor Mothe Srilatha.
According to sources in the party, the Congress is keen on fortifying its position in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, which has Assembly segments that form the Lok Sabha constituencies of Secunderabad and Malkangiri.
The Congress drew a blank in the GHMC area where voters apparently voted for the BRS for the development that been brought about in Hyderabad.
Though several MLAs of the BRS have called on Revanth Reddy, they have not yet made any clear move to join the Congress. They have already said they met him to seek funds for the development of their constituencies.
Those who suspect these lawmakers might cross the line say it may not be that easy for an MLA to join another party without attracting the provisions of the anti-defection law.
There are whispers in the Congress camp that these MLAs are now on the bench till such time as they constitute two-thirds of the BRS’ strength in the Assembly so that they could join the Congress without being disqualified.
This is the same strategy that former chief minster K Chandrashekar Rao used to spirit away 12 of the 18 Congress legislators in 2019. After the merger, they were declared BRS MLAs by the Speaker.
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