Upbeat over the Congress’s resounding victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader in charge of Telangana, Manikrao Thakre, said several BJP and BRS leaders were in touch with the party.
In an informal interaction with media persons, the Congress leader said that there would be an influx of leaders from other parties into the Congress after its Khammam public meeting on Sunday, 2 July.
Former MP and BRS leader Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy would join the Congress at the Khammam meeting, in the presence of Rahul Gandhi who will address a public meeting around 5 pm.
In a separate but related development, Bhadrachalam Zilla Parishad (ZP) chairman Koram Kanakaiah resigned from the primary membership of the BRS.He said he would also join the Congress on Sunday.Kanakaiah clarified that he had not resigned from the post of the ZP chairman.
The Khammam meeting would also mark the successful completion of the padayatra of Congress Legislative Party leader Mallu Bhati Vikramarka.Rahul Gandhi will felicitate Vikramarka at the meeting.
Thakre exuded confidence that the Congress would capture power in the Telangana Assembly elections, to be held towards the end of the year, as the tide of public opinion in favour of the grand old party was increasing by the day.
According to Congress sources, several leaders suffocating in the BRS and BJP were contemplating joining the Congress.They would come out openly and don the Congress robes after Sunday’s public meeting.
Around mid-July, former minister Jupally Krishna Rao would join the Congress at a meeting likely to be attended by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
Thakre said that KCR’s dream of increasing BRS’s footprint in Maharashtra would remain a pipedream.He would not be able to win even one seat in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
