Sidelined by BRS, ex-MP decides to don saffron

HYDERABAD: The BRS suffered a jolt as senior party leader Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, a former MP from Khammam, decided to quit the party for the BJP. Sources said that he would be inducted into the BJP ranks by Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on January 18, following which he will be a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hyderabad entourage during his visit on January 19.

It was learnt that Srinivas Reddy was willing to contest the Palair Assembly seat in the state polls or the Khammam Lok Sabha seat, as decided by the BJP leadership.

Sources said that Srinivas Reddy was upset with the BRS since 2019, when he was denied a ticket to contest the Khammam Lok Sabha seat despite being the MP. He had won the seat on a YSRC ticket in 2014, but quit the party in May 2016 to join the BRS (then TRS).

While he waited, the BRS allotted the ticket to Nama Nageshwara Rao, who joined the party from TD, in 2019.

Sudhakar Reddy had been staying away from party activities; with no indication from the party leadership, he decided to quit the BRS.

Party sources said he was under pressure from supporters to contest the Assembly elections or next year’s Lok Sabha elections, due to which he has decided to join the BJP, as there would be heavy competition for a BRS ticket.

On January 1, at an event, Srinivas Reddy had asked his supporters to wait for the BRS decision on his political future. He said everyone knew how BRS leadership was treating him since 2019 Lok Sabha polls for which he was denied a ticket.

Srinivas Reddy had also been telling his supporters that an active political leader cannot afford to stay away from contesting elections for more than five years. He will hold meetings with his supporters, mandal wise, from Tuesday to share his decision and seek their continued support.

Although the BRS retained power for the second term with a landslide majority, by winning 88 of the 119 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls, it suffered a huge setback in the undivided Khammam district, where it won only one of the total 10 seats it had contested. The Congress won six seats, TD won two seats and an independent candidate won one.

Subsequently, four Congress MLAs, two TD MLAs and the lone independent joined the BRS, strengthening its hold on Khammam, securing it eight of 10 seats. The Congress is left with two MLAs at present.