Hyderabad: BRS secretary general K. Keshava Rao on Friday formally announced his decision to quit the party and join the Congress, which he said he had an association with spanning more than five decades.
Addressing a press conference, Keshava Rao, who on Thursday met with BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao to inform him of his decision, also heaped praise on the BRS president saying he had led Telangana state to the top on many fronts. He also said “KCR, KTR, and Harish Rao are the most talented. No one can question them on that. I am not finding fault with BRS for my decision. KCR has a thinking mind, he will do what is good for BRS.”
He also said despite all the development, the BRS lost the Assembly elections. This, according to him, was because the focus of the party leadership was on the family and not on the party cadre.
Keshava Rao, who was careful in picking his words, made it clear that he was leaving the BRS with a “heavy heart”, but that did not stop him from taking a swipe at the BRS leadership for its claims that only it was responsible for the statehood. “Telangana was formed by law, not by songs and dances. It was the Congress that passed the law. The public movement inspired the fight, but it was Congress that moved the law in Parliament, inspired by the ‘pink movement’,” he said.
Keshava Rao said his meeting “with KCR was cordial and we discussed several issues including arrest of Kavitha.” Answering a question, he said he advised Chandrashekar Rao to join the I.N.D.I.A bloc but “he was not happy with my suggestion. Had KCR followed my advice, he would have emerged as the leader for the alliance. Perhaps, he had a different perspective.”
Keshava Rao said he will would his Rajya Sabha seat he won while in the BRS. “I have just two years left in the term. If given the chance again to go to Rajya Sabha, I will take it.” He said he wanted to “leave these dirty politics. But people like me have no way out even if something is dirty. I want to return home to Congress, this is ghar wapsi for me.”
The senior politician saved one of his choicest barbs for K.T. Rama Rao. Asked what he had to say to those in BRS criticising his decision to join the Congress, Keshava Rao said, “there are some who are talking about my leaving BRS, saying BRS did a lot for me. I will not react. If KTR were to say BRS did a lot for me, then I will tell him it did tuppence.”
