Former Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy fourth BRS MLA to switch to Congress

Gates were opened for fresh defections from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) into Congress after the Parliament elections with senior BRS MLA and former Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy joining the Congress on Friday after being invited by Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

Mr. Srinivas Reddy justified his decision citing Chief Minister’s commitment towards the farmers and said at the fag end of his political career, his only interests were that of farmers.

Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister along with the Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy called on the senior BRS MLA at his residence and invited him to join the Congress to guide the Government with his rich experience.

Later, speaking to reporters, Mr. Pocharam Srinivas Reddy hailed the pro-farmer attitude of Mr. Revanth Reddy and said that as a farmer himself he was impressed with the way the Government was implementing the pro-farmer schemes in Telangana.

Mr. Srinivas Reddy, who was the Speaker from 2018 to 2023 in the BRS government and the Agriculture Minister from 2014 to 2018, said it was a homecoming to him as he had started his political career with the Congress in the 70s. He recalled how he joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and later the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS, now BRS) in special circumstances.

Political career

Mr. Srinivas Reddy, one of the senior politicians of Telangana, started his political career with the Congress in 1976 and later joined the TDP in 1984. He served as a Cabinet Minister in the Chandrababu Naidu government in the combined Andhra Pradesh managing the portfolios of Mines and Geology and later Panchayat Raj.

File photo of Pocharam Srinivas Reddy when he wa sin Telugu Desam Party. | Photo Credit: RAMANA KV

He joined the TRS in 2011 at the peak of the Telangana movement resigning as a TDP MLA. He won from the Banswada Constituency 1994, 1999, 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2023.

File photo of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS, then TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao welcoming the Banswada MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) into the TRS at a public meeting in Banswada. | Photo Credit: K.V. Ramana

Fourth BRS MLA to join Congress

He is the fourth BRS MLA to have joined the Congress after Danam Nagender,Tellam Venkat Rao and Kadiyam Srihari.

Kadiyam Srihari, along with his daughter Kavya, joins the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and AICC incharge Deepadas Munsi and DCC president C. Rohin Reddy. File | Photo Credit: By Arrangement

Meanwhile, Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, who shifted his loyalties from BRS to Congress before the Parliament elections, said that about 20 BRS MLAs would soon join the Congress. He claimed that the BRS will become vacant in Greater Hyderabad with all the BRS MLAs set to join the Congress soon.

Revanth welcomes Pocharam Srinivas Reddy

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that Mr. Srinivas Reddy was invited into the Congress as a part of the reconstruction of Telangana, which he said was destroyed by the BRS in the last 10 years. Mr. Srinivas Reddy joined the party impressed by the pro-farmer policies of the Telangana government. The CM also said that due respect and position will be given to him taking his seniority into consideration. Speculations are rife that Mr. Srinivas Reddy may be inducted into the Cabinet.