As there has been considerable delay, there was intense speculation over whether the two were having second thoughts.
Published Jun 18, 2023 | 7:30 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 18, 2023 | 7:30 AM
Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna Rao were ousted from the BRS on 10 April. (Twitter)
Ousted BRS leaders — former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao — and party MLC K Damodar Reddy are set to meet Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on 22 June — after his return from the US — in a prelude to joining the Congress at public meetings to be held at Khammam and Mahabubnagar.
Their formal induction, along with several others, into the grand old party will likely happen towards the end of this month. As far as Srinivasa Reddy is concerned, the date of his joining has been tentatively fixed for 30 June at Khammam.
On Saturday, 17 June, TPCC president A Revanth Reddy and Srinivasa Reddy is said to have interacted with Rahul Gandhi over Zoom, where Reddy reportedly discussed the date of his joining.
At the Khammam meeting, either Rahul Gandhi or party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is expected to admit Srinivasa Reddy and his supporters into the party.
Krishna Rao and Damodar Reddy will reportedly join the party formally at the public meeting to be held in Mahabubnagar, the date of which is yet to be finalised.
As there has been a considerable delay, especially after Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna Rao dropped subtle hints that they would be joining the Congress, there were intense speculations over whether they were having second thoughts.
With BJP leaders also dropping hints that the two leaders were looking at the saffron party and that they would join them at the public meeting at Khammam on 15 June — which did not take place — there was confusion over which party they were preferred to travel with.
The Congress leaders have now cleared the air, stating that the two leaders would be joining the grand old party, and that they were just waiting for the availability of the top leaders to admit them into the Congress.
Meanwhile, sources said that former MLA and BRS leader R Gurunath Reddy from Kodangal in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district was likely to join the party on Sunday, 18 June.
Srinivasa Reddy had held a meeting with his supporters from all mandals in the erstwhile Khammam district on 9 June, and said that it was only a matter time of before he crossed the Rubicon.
After the meeting, he said: “I will announce which party I will be joining in three to four days. I go by the opinion of my supporters in the district. I will join the party in the presence of lakhs of people in Khammam district very soon.”
Srinivasa Reddy invited about 70 of his supporters from all the 10 Assembly segments in the combined Khammam district for the meeting held earlier in the day which is being seen as a prelude to taking the leap of faith.
He has already taken a lot of time which made his supporters feel unhappy.
He was suspended from BRS on 11 April and since then, he and Jupally Krishna Rao, who too was axed by the pink party, have been working together in assessing which party is a better bet for them.
After the debacle of BJP in Karnataka, the two leaders appeared to have decided that the Congress would be the better bet, although the BJP, particularly the party’s “Joinings Committee” chairman Eatala Rajender, has not quite given up trying to persuade them to join the saffron party.
