From Congress to TRS and back, Telangana’s ‘poll vault’ brothers look to make another jump

G Vinod and G Vivek, sons of late former Union minister G Venkat Swamy, have been switching loyalties between TRS and Congress repeatedly.

The upcoming Telangana elections has landed the family of late former Union minister G Venkat Swamy in a piquant situation. Both his sons G Vinod and G Vivek had enjoyed prominent positions in the Congress — the former was a two-time MLA and a minister in YS Rajasekhar Reddy cabinet, while his younger brother was an MP from Peddapalli parliamentary constituency once represented by his father.

A disgruntled Vinod (pictured) is now all set to join the Congress again in the presence of its president Rahul Gandhi on Friday.

After the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) came to power in 2014, both of them joined the ruling party hoping to get good positions. But that did not happen and within no time, they were back in the Congress. However, their return caused disgruntlement in the party.

Vivek (pictured) did hectic lobbying with the TRS high command for his brother to get an MLA ticket, but to no avail.

Having no other way, Vinod and Vivek quit the Congress a couple of years ago and went back to the TRS. This time, the TRS leadership gave enough recognition to Vivek by appointing him as an advisor to the government and promising him to give an MP ticket in 2019, while his elder brother was promised an MLA ticket from Chennur.

But Vinod did not find his name in the list of MLA candidates released by the TRS last month. Though Vivek did hectic lobbying with the party high command for his brother, it was to no avail.

A disgruntled Vinod is now all set to join the Congress again in the presence of its president Rahul Gandhi on Friday. This has put the question of mark on the fate of Vivek also, as the TRS leadership is suspecting he, too, might jump the fence again sooner or later!