AP: Congress strongman Kiran Kuman Reddy resigns, likely to join BJP

Amaravati: Congress suffered a setback as former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh Kiran Kumar Reddy resigned from the party on Saturday.

He submitted his resignation letter to the president of the Indian National Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, on March 11.

The four-time MLA from Chittoor district is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reports suggest.

Reddy’s association with the Congress party has been on and off since the state’s bifurcation in 2014. He was the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh and was strongly against the division.

When the UPA government decided to divide AP, Reddy resigned as the chief minister and quit the party to float his own called the Jai Samaikyandhra Party.

However, the party neither gained momentum nor acceptance from the public, following which Reddy returned to Congress in 2018. However, he alleged that he was repeatedly sidelined by the party when asked for a better position. He even paid a visit to Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi for the same.

He was inactive during the 2019 General Elections and did not participate in the recently concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra.