BRS Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy Joins Congress, BRS Loses 10th MLA
Hyderabad: The defection of BRS MLAs into the Congress continued on Monday, with the latest entrant being Patancheru legislator Gudem Mahipal Reddy. He joined the ruling party in the presence of TPCC chief and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at his residence.
Mahipal Reddy is the 10th BRS MLA who joined the Congress in the past seven months. He expressed his willingness to join the Congress when he met Revanth Reddy on Saturday.
Mahipal Reddy is the fifth BRS MLA from Greater Hyderabad limits who joined the Congress. Prior to him, BRS legislators Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), T. Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar) and Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally) joined the Congress.
BRS leader Gali Anil Kumar, who contested from Zahirabad in the recent Lok Sabha polls and lost, also joined the Congress along with MLA Mahipal.
In the Assembly elections, the Congress fared worse by winning just a single seat out of 27 under Greater Hyderabad limits. The BRS dominated the GHMC by winning 18 seats, followed by the AIMIM winning 7 seats. The BJP won one seat.
The Congress could win only the Ibrahimpatnam seat while the BJP won the lone Goshamahal seat under Greater Hyderabad limits. The seven seats in Old City were bagged by AIMIM.
The BRS bagged Patancheru, LB Nagar, Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar, Serilinagampally, Chevella, Medchal, Malkajgiri, Quthbullapur, Kukatpally, Uppal, Musheerabad, Amberpet, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Sanathnagar, Secunderabad and Secunderabad Cantonment seat.
However, BRS MLA from Secunderabad Cantonment Lasya Nanditha died in a road accident in February this year following which the bypoll was held in May. In the bypoll, the Congress won this seat. With this, the Congress MLAs in Greater Hyderabad limits increased to two.
However, with the joining of five BRS MLAs Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar) Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally) and Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru), the Congress MLAs in Greater Hyderabad limits increased to even. A few more BRS MLAs from Greater Hyderabad limits are expected to join the Congress in the next few days.
