R Krishnaiah shocks Congress, joins YSRC

Hyderabad: The leaders of Telangana state Pradesh Congress committee are shocked after BC leader R. Krishnaiah joined the YSR Congress in presence of party chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy during the BC Garjana programme that was held in Eluru of West Godavari district on Sunday.

Mr Krishnaiah had surprised the Congress cadre by grabbing the party ticket for Miryalaguda Assembly constituency in the last minute in the recently-held Assembly elections. He was not active in the party since his defeat in the elections. He had met Mr Jagan Mohan few days ago who invited him to the BC meeting.

Senior Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao criticised Mr Krishnaiah for his “opportunistic” move. He said, “He was with the Telugu Desam in the 2014 Assembly elections, moved to the Congress during the 2018 elections and now, before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he has joined hands with the YSRC. Mr Rahul Gandhi offered him the ticket for being a BC leader. The people should be careful with such opportunist BC leaders. Why did Mr Krishnaiah not ask Mr Jagan Mohan to allot more seats to BCs in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh?”