Telangana Polls: Nagam Janardhan Reddy Jumps Ship Again

Hyderabad: Former minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy and Vishnuwardhan Reddy, who quit the Congress party recently, formally joined Bharat Rashtra Samithi on Tuesday. The BRS chief and chief minister KCR welcomed the duo by offering the party scarves to them. 

Before Telangana Congress started announcing its candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections, the BRS witnessed a migration of some of its leaders to the grand old party. However, the tables have turned after Congress declared the names of candidates who will receive the party tickets for the state polls. Several senior leaders were disappointed after the party ignored them and gave tickets to turncoats. 

The second list by Congress met with opposition from the ticket aspirants and their supporters and the BRS spotted an opportunity to draw first blood. The BRS leadership went into overdrive to lure disgruntled leaders from the opposition to its camp. Because, it will pay dividends to the party as these leaders bring the loyalty of their followers when they switch sides. 

As part of its strategy, the BRS working president KT Rama Rao and senior leader T Harish Rao first reached out to the disgruntled leaders of Congress and later invited them to meet the party chief and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao before making up their mind. 

The efforts of BRS leaders started seeing results when the senior leader and former Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah broke off with Congress after it became clear that the party was in no mood to field him from Jangaon constituency. Alleging humiliation to Backward Caste leaders, Ponnala ended his four decades long association with the grand old party and joined BRS. 

When former minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy quit Congress after the party denied him ticket from Nagar Kurnool constituency, KTR and Harish Rao immediately contacted the disgruntled leader and extended an invite to join their party. Nagam, a six-time MLA, was once a prominent leader of TDP in Telangana but switched loyalty to Congress before the 2018 elections. 

Live: తెలంగాణ భవన్ లో పలువురు కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీ నాయకులు బీఆర్ఎస్ లో చేరిక అనంతరం మాట్లాడుతున్న బీఆర్ఎస్ అధినేత, ముఖ్యమంత్రి శ్రీ కేసీఆర్ #KCROnceAgain https://t.co/L4uY2OSoLs

— BRS Party (@BRSparty) October 31, 2023

The decision of Congress to field former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin from Jubilee Hills constituency saw the exit of former MLA P Vishnuwardhan Reddy from the party. Vishnuwardhan Reddy, son of PJR, P Janardhan Reddy, was invited by the BRS leadership to join their party with a promise to provide a suitable position for him. 

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