Hyderabad: BRS legislator Kadiam Srihari joined the Congress along with his daughter Dr K. Kavya on Sunday, in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and AICC in-charge Deepa Das Munshi on Sunday.
The BRS leaders were welcomed with party kanduva. Their entry is expected to strengthen the Congress in the erstwhile Warangal district ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
This further weakens the BRS, whose five MPs have defected: G. Ranjith Reddy (Chevella), Venkatesh Netha (Kothapalli) and P. Dayakar (Warangal) have joined the Congress while B.B. Patil (Zaheerabad) and Pothuganti Ramulu (Nagarkurnool) have moved to the BJP.
In the city, Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagendar has joined the Congress to contest the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.
Around 10 BRS MLAs have met Revanth Reddy under the garb of seeking to discuss funds for their respective constituencies. Former MLC B. Mohan Reddy had recently joined the party in the presence of Deepa Das Munshi and other leaders.
Srihari, BRS legislator from Station Ghanpur, had started his political career from the Telugu Desam party in the 1980s. The desertion of the senior leader will dent the BRS vote base among the dalit community.
The BRS gave Srihari the Assembly ticket after a tussle with then MLA T. Rajaiah. The BRS selected his daughter Dr Kavya as the Lok Sabha election candidate from Warangal. Last week, she said that a series of scams and the phone -tapping scandal had dented the image of the BRS and turned down the nomination.
Having joined the TRS in May 2013, Srihari was elected MP from Warangal. He also served as deputy chief minister and education minister in the BRS government.
