Leaders of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), including the Malkajgiri MLA, Mynampalli Hanmanth Rao, former MLA Vemula Veeresham and Kumbham Anil Kumar Reddy joined the Congress in the presence of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi on Thursday.
Mr. Kharge welcomed them into the party offering the Congress scarf and assured that their services would be utilised in the elections. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A. Revanth Reddy was present.
Mr. Hanmanth Rao resigned from the BRS recently after ‘abusing’ the Finance Minister T. Harish Rao, blaming him for blocking ticket to his son Rohit from Medak constituency. Mr. Rao was angry that only his name figured in the list announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, who retained majority of the sitting MLAs except a few. He alleged that it was done under the influence of Mr. Harish Rao.
Vemula Veeresham was the TRS (now BRS) MLA from 2014 to 2018 but lost to the Congress candidate Chirumarti Lingaiah from Nakirekal reserved constituency in Nalgonda district in the 2018 elections. Mr. Lingaiah later defected to the ruling TRS (now BRS). He expected to be nominated again by the BRS, but the party chose Mr. Lingaiah.
Mr. Veeresham’s entry into party was being speculated for long, but Bhongir MLA, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy was blocking it due to their differences. Mr. Reddy had accused earlier that Mr. Veeresham was behind the killing of his close follower Boddu Seenu when the latter was MLA.
The entry of Mr. Kumbham Anil is interesting as he left the party in July to join the BRS in the presence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, who apparently also sounded him for the Bhongir Parliament seat. But within two months, he is back in the Congress as he is peeved with the treatment in the BRS. Mr. Anil, who was the Bhongir Yadadri district Congress committee president when he left the party, is likely to get the Congress ticket from Bhongir as the party surveys found him to be the most favourable to win the seat.
