Telangana Legislative Council chairman Sukhender Reddy’s son Gutha Amit Reddy quits BRS, joins Congress

For the Congress, Amit Reddy’s decision to join its forces would add to the perception that the BRS was on the way out and that it was no longer relevant in the Telangana landscape because it had outlived its utility.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had been painstakingly working up a political lather that the Congress is in a strong upward trend.

Also Read: Bypoll to Telangana legislative council graduates’ constituency evokes interest

The issue with KCR

The fact that Gutha Sukhender Reddy has been ill at ease in the BRS is well known.

Recently, Sukhender Reddy came out openly against party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and how he had brought the avoidable political ruin of the BRS with his majoritarian exclusivist policy.

Amit Reddy joining the party was only waiting to happen as he wanted to chart his course in Telangana’s political landscape outside the BRS.

The BRS had lost several of its leaders either to the Congress or the BJP after it went down in the Assembly elections.

Though the BRS leaders are refusing to get off the high horse that the party was still a major force to reckon with and that it would bounce back in the Lok Sabha polls with not less than 10 to 12 seats, their contention seems to be lacking in conviction.

Apart from losing five Lok Sabha members — G Ranjit Reddy, Nethakani Venkatesh, Pasunuri Dayakaar, P Ramulu and B Patil — to either the Congress or the BJP, three MLAs — Danam Nagender, Kadiam Srihari and Tellam Venkat Rao — to the Congress, it has lost its leader in Parliament — K Keshava Rao — who is also the party’s general secretary.

Keshava Rao’s daughter Gadwal Vijayalaxmi, Hyderabad Mayor, has also crossed the Rubicon and is now in the grand old party waiting for a break to go up the political ladder.

Cases against Kavitha

Breaking the nerve of the party cadres further, the ED arrested KCR’s daughter and BRS MLC K Kavitha for her suspected role in the Delhi Liquor Policy Scam on 15 March.

Her legal battle for obtaining bail is not getting anywhere even as the CBI has slapped cases against her in addition to the ED cases, further demoralising the party leadership and the cadres.

Sukhener Reddy had said that the BRS MLAs had become law and unto themselves, and the anti-incumbency they had accumulated over the last 10 years had done the party in at the hustings.

Though Sukhender Reddy wanted Amit Reddy to be given a ticket to contest for the Lok Sabha in the past, after the BRS lost the Assembly election, both father and son lost interest in the BRS as its prospects appeared to be on a continuous downward spiral.

Also Read: BRS can fight for Telangana people if it wins 10-12 LS seats: KCR

Sukhender Reddy’s grudge against KCR

This apart, Sukhender Reddy has been nursing a grudge against KCR for letting other leaders in the Nalgonda district fill his ears with poison against him, implying former energy minister G Jagdish Reddy.

He had accused KCR of being impervious to the sensibilities of the party leaders. He had said that though he tried to get an appointment with KCR for about six months prior to the Assembly elections, he could not succeed and suspected that it was because KCR was listening to others.

He is sore that he was not made minister though it was the condition on which he left the Congress and joined the BRS in February 2015. But he was never made a minister.

He was appointed as the chairman of Telangana Rythu Samanvaya Samiti in 2018 and later he became MLC in 2019 and again in 2021.

Earlier, Sukhender Reddy said he did not contemplate leaving the BRS though staying there is a little suffocating for him.

As he is holding a constitutional position, he cannot speak or act irresponsibly and there was no need for him to switch parties. His term as MLC will end in November 2027.

(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)