BRS leader P Srinivas Reddy joins Congress; leaders want pause on poaching

Hyderabad: Former speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly and senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader Pocharam Srinivas Reddy joined Congress on Friday.

“Senior leader P Srinivas Reddy’s expertise and suggestions will help Congress for the betterment of farmers in the state. We welcome him into the Congress party,” said chief minister Revanth Reddy who met Srinivas Reddy and his son Bhaskar Reddy at his residence along with other Congress leaders.

‘State will discuss farm loan waivers today’

CM Revanth said that the cooperation of all senior leaders is required for the welfare of farmers in the state.

“We are going to take a decision on the procedures for farm loan waiver today in the ministerial meeting. The co-operation of senior leader P Srinivas Reddy will help to complete the unfinished projects in Nizamabad district,” CM Revanth added.

Reasons for Srinivas Reddy’s exit from BRS

Senior Congress leaders speculate that the exit of P Srinivas Reddy is due to the letter sent by former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao to Justice Narasimha Reddy on the probe into the alleged irregularities in the power sector during the previous BRS government and the existential crisis the party faces now.

A senior Congress leader on condition of anonymity said, “KCR’s reply to Justice Narasimha Reddy’s notice is another show of arrogance by the former chief minister. KCR’s unfortunate and unprecedented response is a part of his move to avoid investigation into the Kaleshwaram project. This display of arrogance has created hopelessness for his party men who are looking for greener pastures.”

BRS leaders protest Srinivas Reddy’s exit

BRS leaders including Balka Suman protested outside the residence of P Srinivas Reddy.

Prof Dasoju Sravan Kumar on X, quoting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments on defections, said that CM Revanth Reddy’s actions are ‘unconstitutional and violates the principles of democracy’.

BRS MLAs in fear of false cases

Congress leaders said that there would be no elections for the next five years and most of the BRS MLAs are now scared as they fear being booked in purported land grabbing cases. For that reason, many of them are looking towards Congress.

BRS is in wait-and-watch mode

On the other side, BRS leaders are waiting and watching the moves of the Congress government, stating that the party has a strong cadre and new leaders will emerge soon. They say that in the long run, Congress will suffer due to its actions, pointing at the results of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leaders call for a strong Opposition in Telangana

Not everyone in the ruling party is happy about the influx of leaders from other parties.

Senior Congress leaders said there is a need for strong Opposition in the State and poaching leaders from BRS will not help. Another senior leader said, “In the last 10 years, Congress was a weak Opposition and KCR was not willing to listen to them. The voice of the Opposition is important for a healthy democracy and healthy functioning of the government. Taking away senior leaders and bringing them into the ruling party fold, gives a bad signal to the cadre who have been fighting against these very leaders.”

The Lok Sabha performance of the Congress party has been the talk of the town. However, with poaching starting again it is not sitting well with those who have worked hard for the party in the last 10 years.