Sources said Venkata Rao returned to the BRS as there was little chance he would get a Congress ticket to contest from Bhadrachalam.
Published Aug 17, 2023 | 7:18 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 17, 2023 | 7:18 PM
BRS leaders, including KT Rama Rao, inducting T Venkata Rao (third from right) back to the BRS. (X)
Administering a high-voltage shock to the Congress, Tellam Venkata Rao, a close aide of former MP and Congress leader Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, did a prodigal son by joining the BRS in the presence of the party’s Working President KT Rama Rao on Thursday, 17 August.
Venkata Rao’s homecoming, barely a few days after joining the Congress, is being seen as an indication of the recent change in perception about the grand old party’s prospects in the year-end Assembly elections.
When he joined the BRS, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar and BRS Bhadradri Kothagudem district president and legislator Rega Kantha Rao were with him. Several Congress leaders from Bhadrachalam, Pinapaka, Illendu, Aswaraopet, and Kothagudem also joined the BRS.
Venkata Rao’s return is seen as a pointer to the Congress losing its steam, after showing promise initially, following its landslide victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections.
When word got around that Venkata Rao was having second thoughts about continuing in the “inhospitable environs” of the Congress, Transport Minister Ajay Kumar and MLA Rega Kantha Rao, who were on high alert to strike at the Congress whenever an opportunity presented itself, persuaded him to rejoin the BRS and brought him to Telangana Bhavan.
Venkata Rao, who was originally a YSRTP leader, contested the Lok Sabha election from Mahabubabad in 2014 but lost. He later joined the BRS and contested the Assembly election from Bhadrachalam. But he lost again, this time to Congress nominee Podem Veeraiah.
Sources told South First that one of the reasons why Venkata Rao decided to return to the BRS was that there was no way he would get the Congress ticket for Bhadrachalam as it has a sitting candidate there.
According to the sources, the BRS might get the support of the CPI(M) in the segment, in which case Venkata Rao’s victory would be more or less assured.
In the 2018 Assembly elections, Venkata Rao secured 35,961 votes (32.56 percent) while Podem Veeraiah bagged 47,746 votes (43.23 percent). CPI(M) candidate Midiyam Babu Rao played spoilsport for the BRS candidate by taking away 14,228 votes (12.88 percent).
After admitting Venkata Rao into the BRS ranks, KTR said that it was foolhardy to believe that the Congress would be able to win the Assembly elections this time.
The BRS leader said that Venkata Rao realised how suffocating his new environment was within a month of joining the Congress, and complimented him for his decision to return home. He said the BRs would take care of him and his career in politics.
KTR, reiterating the Telangana government’s commitment to developing the Lord Rama temple at Badrachalam, said that it would be made on par with the Yadadri temple.
“We are confident of coming to power for the third time. As soon as BRS takes the reins, we will take up the reconstruction of the Bhadradri temple,” he said.
KTR said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was intent on making the “Jal, Jungle, Zameen” slogan of tribal leader Komaram Bheem come true.
He said it was the BRS government which had increased the reservation percentage for tribals to 10 percent. Improvement in healthcare and education, as well as piped drinking water supply in remote hamlets, were among the issues on the priority list of the BRS government, he said.
