Defections from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) continued on Saturday with Gadwal MLA, Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy joining Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at his residence in Hyderabad.
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The Gadwal MLA is considered close to the BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and was one of the two BRS candidates to have won from the combined Mahabubnagar district that was swept by the Congress in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
Seventh BRS MLA to join Congress
He is the seventh BRS MLA to have shifted to the Congress. So far six BRS MLAs left the party and they include Kadiyam Srihari,Danam Nagender, Tellam Venkat Rao, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Sanjay Kumar and Kale Yadaiah.
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Mr. Krishnamohan Reddy’s entry was in the news for the last few days as the local Congress leaders opposed his entry, particularly the former Zilla Parishad chairperson Saritha, who unsuccessfully contested against him in the last Assembly elections and lost narrowly. Ms. Saritha joined the Congress just before the elections from the BRS for a better political career and was a supporter of Mr. Krishnamohan Reddy.
BRS now has just one MLA in the combined Mahabubnagar district, Gattu Bheemudu, who represents the Alampur constituency. Sources said he is also expected to join the Congress soon.
Mr. Krishnamohan Reddy is a nephew of Mahbubnagar MP from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), DK Aruna, and in fact defeated her in the 2018 Assembly elections when she was in the Congress party. Known to be a hard worker, Mr. Krishnamohan Reddy was one of the few leaders in whom BRS working president KTR had a lot of faith. His personal stature has what helped him to win in Mahbubnagar district that was swept by the Congress in the last elections.
Four more BRS MLAs ready to join
Meanwhile, four more BRS MLAs from the Hyderabad city are expected to join the Congress. Some of these MLAs skipped the party meeting on Friday and they also stayed away from the GHMC Council meeting on Saturday.
The BRS had won 39 seats in the 2023 elections out of the 119. The party’s MLA from Cantonment, Lasya Nanditha, passed away in a road accident in February 2024. In the by-poll held along with the Parliament elections, Congress candidate Sri Ganesh won the seat thus reducing the effective number to 38. Out of these, seven MLAs have left the party so far.