Congress invites BRS leader Kadiyam Srihari to join party

Hyderabad, March 29 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) senior leader and MLA Kadiyam Srihari along with his daughter Kadiyam Kavya, who opted out of contest as BRS candidate for Warangal Lok Sabha seat, held talks with senior Congress leaders here on Friday.

AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi, and AICC secretaries Rohit Choudhary and Vishnu Nath met them at their residence and invited them to join the Congress party.

Srihari, former Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, told media persons that he will discuss with his followers and take a decision.

“In a day or two, I will take a decision after consulting my followers and well-wishers and my workers,” said Srihari, who was elected to the Assembly from Station Ghanpur constituency in the recent Assembly elections.

“I have not yet taken a decision. I have to take a decision first,” he said when asked if he would be contesting Lok Sabha elections from Warangal as the Congress candidate.

On several leaders including MP K. Keshava Rao leaving BRS, Srihari said that for various reasons the party is losing ground. “For various reasons, people are moving away from BRS. To serve the people and do something for the constituency, we have to take a call,” he said.

Dasmunshi said they had a detailed discussion. She said the Congress was waiting for a response from Srihari and his daughter.

Earlier, Dasmunshi along with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy met the BRS General Secretary K. Keshava Rao, who along with his daughter and Hyderabad Mayor Vijayalaxmi Gadwal are set to join Congress on March 30.

Kadiyam Srihari, who was associated with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for a long time and served as a minister in united Andhra Pradesh, joined TRS (now BRS) in 2013. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Warangal on TRS ticket in 2014 but the next year BRS President and then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao inducted him into the Cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister.

On Thursday, Kadiyam Kavya announced her decision to withdraw from contesting for the Warangal Lok Sabha seat.

Kavya wrote to KCR that recent media reports about party leaders regarding allegations of corruption, encroachments, phone tapping and the liquor scam have damaged the party’s image. She also mentioned that the lack of coordination and cooperation among BRS leaders in the district caused more damage to the party.

BRS had decided to field Kavya after denying the ticket to sitting MP Pasunuri Dayakar. Peeved over this, Dayakar has joined the Congress.

Dayakar was elected in the 2015 by-election and in 2019 from Warangal, a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.

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