BJP alternative to TRS: Congress MLA

Hyderabad: Already reeling from the defection of 12 legislators to the TRS, the Congress received another shock on Saturday when its legislator Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy said the BJP was the only alternative to the TRS in the state.

Speaking to mediapersons in Nalgonda, Mr Rajagopal Reddy said the Congress did not have a future in the state and many leaders were eyeing the BJP. A leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi was needed to fight against the family rule of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, he said.

The Munugodu legislator predicted that the BJP would come in power in the 2023 Assembly polls and in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He said he did not have any intention of joining the BJP.

His statement comes amid reports that BJP senior leader Ram Madhav was in touch with Congress leaders including MPs Komati-reddy Venkat Reddy and A. Revanth Reddy and others to persuade them to join the BJP.

Union minister G. Kishan Reddy supported the statement of Mr Rajagopal Reddy while speaking at a meeting of BJP workers in Kukatpally.

Stating that the Congress MLA had spoken the truth, he said that youths across the country were looking at the BJP and the party is preparing to induct 10 lakh young people.

He said the BJP flag would fly in Telangana in 2023. Several leaders like Mr Reddy are prepared to work with the BJP, he said.

In Nalgonda speaking with mediapersons, Mr Reddy alleged that the 12 Congress legislators had left the party due to the incompetence of the state leadership. He said, “It is unfortunate that the state leaders remained spectators when the MLAs were leaving the party.”

He said he had hoped that the high command would give the leadership to young leaders after the elections but there were no signs of that happening.