What made Rajagopal Reddy, Mynampally Hanumantha Rao, Rekha Nayak change allegiances

Hyderabad: Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Munugodu, rejoined the Indian National Congress after resigning from the BJP, on Wednesday. Many speculate that this move has given Congress party strength in some of the constituencies ahead of the Telangana Elections on November 30.

Some of the important leaders who have bolstered the party’s chances are Malkajgiri MLA Mynampally Hanumantha Rao and Khanapur MLA Rekha Nayak who joined Congress after quitting BRS.

These developments, a few weeks before the polls, give an interesting turn in the political war between the BRS, BJP and Congress parties.

Mynampally quits after son denied ticket

A few weeks ago, Mynampally Hanumantha Rao, along with his son Rohit, joined the Congress in the presence of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi. The development comes a day after TPCC president A Revanth Reddy confirmed two tickets for the rebel BRS MLA and his son.

After the BRS denied a ticket to his son, Mynampally Rohit Rao, for the Medak Assembly seat, the leader found his way to Congress. Hanumantha Rao not only got a ticket from the Malkajgiri Assembly segment but also ensured that Rohit was offered a ticket from the Medak Assembly seat.

In one incident, Hanumantha Rao created a stir by publicly accusing finance minister T Harish Rao of backing sitting MLA Padma Devender Reddy for the Medak Assembly ticket instead of his son, despite Rohit’s public service in the constituency during the Covid lockdown.

He allegedly ‘character assassinated’ Harish Rao and threatened to quit the BRS, which he eventually did. At that time chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao made it clear to Hanumantha Rao that it was left to him to decide whether to contest from Malkajgiri or not.

Rekha Nayak claims to be a victim of internal politics

Khanapur MLA Ajmera Rekha Nayak resigned from the BRS and joined Congress, after getting upset with her name not being listed in the 115 candidates announced by CM KCR for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Rekha Nayak claimed that she was a victim of internal politics as KCR wanted to field Bhukya Johnson Rathod Naik, a friend of BRS working president KT Rama Rao, as he was a candidate from Khanapur. She also said she would go on a padayatra in the constituency to explain the reasons why she was dropped for the Khanapur seat.

Addressing the media, she also alleged that Johnson Rathon Naik, a candidate from Khanapur (ST) constituency was not actually a tribal and that he had hampered development in Khanapur by stalling funds, misusing his proximity to KTR.

Interestingly, days after Rekha Nayak spoke out against the party, Mahabubabad Superintendent of Police Sharath Chandra Pawar, who happens to be her son-in-law, was transferred and asked to report to the Telangana State Police Academy.

Komatireddy Rajagopal quits BJP

On Wednesday, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy announced his resignation from the BJP and his decision to join the Congress. Rajagopal Reddy who has been airing his views against the BJP’s functioning for a long time, finally took the plunge to come back to his original party Congress.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, Reddy won as an MLA from Munugode constituency. He said that he fought for the issues related to his constituency but it was all in vain as the ruling party BRS wasn’t able to fulfil the demands of their constituents, thereby leading him to resign from the post of the MLA.

He then joined the BJP and contested as their candidate in the Munugode Assembly by-election and lost to Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of BRS. Later, Rajgopal Reddy was appointed as a BJP national executive committee member in 2023.

While announcing his resignation on Wednesday, Rajagopal stated that the people of Telangana were fed up with the corrupt and undemocratic rule, and to fight the unjust rule he joined the BJP.

In the BJP, he said that he closely worked with prime minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, and BJP national president JP Nadda during the Munugode Assembly by-election in October 2022. The closely contested battle was more a loss to the party as it failed to create the desired alternative, he said.

More leaders switched parties

A few days ago, Mudhole former MLA Narayan Rao Patel and Shadnagar former MLA Pratap Reddy also joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi during the Vijayabheri unity bus yatra which passed through Mulugu, Pedappalli, Karimnagar, Korutla, Jagtial, Armur among other constituencies.

A week ago, former BRS MLA from Medchal, Malipeddi Sudheer Reddy, and his son and Medchal Zilla Parishad chairman, M Sharat Chandra Reddy joined the Congress party.

Sudheer Reddy, who was the MLA from Medchal from 2014 to 2018, was denied the party ticket to give a chance to the present MLA and labour minister, Ch Malla Reddy. Sudheer Reddy, who was a close associate of CM KCR, joined BRS during the Telangana agitation.