Hyderabad: The Congress appears to have opened its doors wide for leaders from other parties after AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal expressed displeasure about some leaders obstructing such entries because of personal reasons.
After his tough talk, several senior leaders from other parties joined the Congress in two days, with the latest being senior BRS leader and former Union minister S. Venugopala Chary.
According to sources, Venugopal, who had a meeting with TPCC president and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers and incharges of Lok Sabha constituencies here on Sunday, reportedly expressed severe anger at a few Congress leaders, who are obstructing the entry of leaders from other parties, especially the BRS and BJP, citing political reasons.
"It will only benefit the BJP to get stronger as they will be forced to join the BJP. The BJP is losing ground in north India and is focussing on south India. Don't give unnecessary scope to the BJP. By blocking the entry of leaders from other parties, you are only causing damage to the Congress," Venugopal is learned to have said in the meeting.
He also issued a strict warning that the party's high command will not tolerate any actions that weaken the party. Venugopal's stern warnings seem to have created a powerful impact with several leaders from other parties joining the Congress within 48 hours.
Former Boath BJP MLA Rathod Bapu Rao, former Narsapur BRS MLA Ch Madan Reddy, Nirmal BRS municipal chairperson Gandrath Eshwar, former Adilabad agriculture market committee chairpersons Raj Mohammad and Ravinder Reddy joined the Congress on Monday.
The Congress leadership has decided to continue attracting leaders from other parties until the Lok Sabha polling in May in phases to show that the Congress is getting stronger by the day and opposition parties are weakening.
