After months-long suspense, former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and former minister Jupally Krishna Rao, on Monday, 26 June, announced that they would soon be joining the Congress.
Their decision, which has long been awaited by the party workers, ended the speculation that both leaders may be having second thoughts about joining the ranks of the grand old party.
The two leaders, who were suspended from the BRS for anti-party activities on 11 April, made the announcement that they would join the Congress after conferring with the party’s top leaders Rahul Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, and party general secretary KC Venugopal in New Delhi on Monday afternoon.
Their meeting with Rahul Gandhi and Kharge has been long overdue.
Though the BJP also tried to land them, they finally decided to be on the side of the Congress, what with its fortunes looking up after the party’s resounding victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections.
The two leaders, who had even tried to float a party themselves, decided against the idea as they did not have much time on hand.
At that time they were not sure if either the Congress or the BJP was powerful enough to challenge the BRS, which is firmly entrenched in the Telangana soil.
Speaking to media persons, Srinivasa Reddy said that he would formally join the Congress at a mammoth public meeting that would be organised at Khammam on 2 July, in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.
Jupally Krishna Rao said that he would follow suit either in the second or third week of July with a similar event in the Mahabubnagar district.He said it could be either on 14 or 16 July, in the presence of Party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
Along with the two leaders, over 30 BRS leaders, most of whom not very prominent, also expressed their desire to join the Congress party.
