Congress leader Srinivas joins TRS in Telangana

Hyderabad: In a setback to Congress in Telangana, senior party leader D Srinivas on Thursday joined the ruling TRS. Srinivas, who had announced his decision to quit the Congress a few days ago, said he decided to join the ruling party to work for realising the goal of 'golden Telangana'.

He joined the TRS in the presence of party president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao here. Srinivas had served as the state Congress president twice and also as a minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh. He was the president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee when the party assumed power under the leadership of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in 2004.

Srinivas is the second former AP Congress president to quit the party in the aftermath of its defeat in 2014 elections. Botsa Satyanarayana, who also served as president of Andhra Pradesh Congress in undivided AP, had also left the party and joined YSR Congress in neighbouring AP.

Speaking on the occasion, Rao said Srinivas' move to join the TRS should not be seen as a routine political move, but an effort to strive for a glorious Telangana.

"There should be a general consensus among political leadership of the state on certain key issues like prosperity of Telangana as it is a new state that came into existence with lots of hopes and aspirations," the Chief Minister said.

This is important as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and its Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu allegedly continued to create troubles for the new-born state, he said.