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BRS leader meets Revanth, set to join Cong with his wife
Mahender Reddy had been sulking in the BRS ever since he was denied the party ticket for the assembly elections from Tandur, which was given to sitting MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislative council member (MLC) and former Telangana minister Patnam Mahender Reddy met chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday night and announced his intention to quit the BRS and join the ruling Congress.
Mahender Reddy, along with his wife Sunitha, who is the chairperson of Vikarabad zilla parishad, called on the chief minister at the latter’s residence and discussed his plans to join the Congress. State health minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and senior leader Rohin Reddy were also present at the meeting.
Speaking to reporters later, Sunitha said she and her husband would formally join the Congress party within a week. “We have served the BRS for a long time, but have not got any recognition there. We have decided to quit the party after consulting our followers and well-wishers,” she said.
According to a Congress leader familiar with the development said Mahender Reddy has requested the chief minister to consider his candidature for Lok Sabha elections from Chevella parliamentary constituency.
In fact, Mahender Reddy had been sulking in the BRS ever since he was denied the party ticket for the assembly elections from Tandur, which was given to sitting MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy. However, BRS president and then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao pacified him and took into the state cabinet in August 2023, months before the assembly elections.
A three-time MLA from Tandur, Mahender Reddy had also served as a minister between 2014 and 2018 in the first BRS government. Earlier, he was with the Telugu Desam Party before joining the BRS in 2014. He lost the election in 2018 to Congress’s Rohit Reddy. In 2019, the BRS made him a member of the Legislative Council. He was re-elected to Council from the local body authorities’ constituency in 2021.
Mahender Reddy’s decision to quit the BRS comes within days of a party MP from Peddapalli parliamentary constituency in Telangana Borlakunta Venkatesh Netha quitting the BRS.
Netha, a first-time MP, resigned from the BRS on February 6 and joined the Congress in New Delhi. He is expecting the Congress ticket for the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat again.
Last week, another senior BRS lawmaker from Station Ghanpur assembly constituency and former deputy chief minister Thatikonda Rajaiah resigned from the party. He is also likely to join the Congress. He is learnt to be seeking the Congress ticket from Warangal Lok Sabha seat.
Meanwhile, former director of public health and family welfare Gadala Srinivasa Rao also resigned from the job and announced his intention to join the Congress. He is hoping to contest from the Khammam Lok Sabha seat.
“I have always wanted to serve people. Now, I want to join electoral politics and serve the people in Khammam,” he said.
Rao was considered to be a staunch loyalist of KCR, as he was actively participating in the BRS activities in Kothagudem. He made his political intentions clear when he had touched KCR’s feet and sought his blessings at a public rally during the assembly elections.
