Since Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) defeat in the November 2023 Assembly elections, politicians have shifted their loyalties from senior leaders to grassroots cadres, crossing party lines for various reasons, including ideological differences, personal ambitions, and strategic calculations. One such high-profile politician, 84 years old, is BRS Rajyasabha MP K. Keshava Rao, who rejoined the Congress party after a decade of stint at BRS in the presence of CM Revent Reddy, AICC Telangana in-charge Deep Das Munshi, Rohit Chowdary, Mallu Ravi, and others.
Along with Keshava Rao, his daughter, Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) mayor, also decided to rejoin the Congress Party.
BRS MP K. Keshava Rao meets Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at his residence in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
#WATCH | BRS MP K. Keshava Rao meets Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at his residence in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
(Video Source: Congress PRO) pic.twitter.com/2GKxZDx1Ao
— ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2024
Rao was a senior Congressman with numerous high-ranking posts in the party and Government. He was elected President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee in 2005 and later appointed to the Congress Working Committee, All India Congress Committee (AICC), in 2009. He was entrusted with party affairs in four states: West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Before these developments, Danam Nagender, a BRS MLA, rejoined the Congress Party and was picked as the party’s MP candidate for the Secunderabad constituency. BRS MP from Chevella, Ranjith Reddy, also joined Congress.
Kavya, the daughter of senior BRS leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari, has withdrawn from running for BRS in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Recently, CM Revanth Reddy said that if he opens the Congress gates, only former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members will remain in the BRS. At the same time, all other BRS MPs will join the ruling party.
In 2019, 12 Telangana Congress MLAs merged with TRS. In the 2014-2018 assembly, 12 of the 15 TDP MLAs joined TRS.
12 Telangana Congress MLAs merge with TRS https://t.co/yryz4YYO6j pic.twitter.com/laOCYrBVmF
— The Siasat Daily (@TheSiasatDaily) June 6, 2019
In March 2016, 12 Telugu Desam Party MLAs merged with Telangana Rasthra Samiti (TRS)
Speaker Madhusudhana Chary Approved Errabelli Letter | 12 TDP MLAs Merged With TRS | TV5 News: https://t.co/EFfTTcVBHW via @YouTube
— TV5 News (@tv5newsnow) March 11, 2016
Now things, political winds are drastically changing. BRS MLC Kavitha is in jail in connection with the Delhi liquor scandal, while former Chief Minister KCR is confining himself at home and clueless senior and secondary leadership and its supporters. Today, BRS is soaked in allegations of systemic corruption and abuse of power; several cases that were concealed or undisclosed in the last ten years have emerged. Amid this, BRS working President KTR and Harish Rao have become mute spectators, and their frustration was evident to the public throughout their ongoing political campaigns and protests against Kavitha’s detention and corruption allegations.
