Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kuna Srisailam Goud from Qutbullapur constituency in Telangana joined the Congress in the presence of All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge Deepa Das Munsi and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday morning.
Mr. Goud is a former MLA who also worked as Medchal District Congress Committee president before joining the BJP in 2021. He contested as the BJP candidate from the Qutbullapur constituency in 2023 Telangana Assembly elections and lost to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) candidate K.P. Vivekanand. A video of Mr. Vivekanand attacking Mr Srisailam Goud during a TV debate went viral during the election campaign.
Senior Congress leaders Patnam Mahender Reddy and Mainampally Hanmanth Rao were among those who called on Mr. Goud at his residence on Thursday and invited him into Congress on behalf of the Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
Independent MLA in 2009
Mr. Goud was elected as an independent MLA from the Qutbullapur constituency in 2009 after he was denied ticket by the Congress party. He returned to the party fold immediately. He held the post of chairman of Andhra Pradesh Police Housing Corporation during the Chief Ministership of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Mr. Goud is considered close to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and in fact, he played a key role in the latter winning the Malkajgiri Parliament seat in the 2019 Parliament elections. However, he joined the BJP in 2021 when it was seeing an upward trend when Mr. Bandi Sanjay was the president.
While leaving the Congress, Mr. Goud said his decision came in the wake of pressure from his followers and supporters as they felt only the BJP has the strength and the courage to defeat the then ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS, now BRS).
