Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Chevella MLA Kale Yadaiah quit the party and joined Congress in the presence of Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy in Delhi on Friday, June 28.
Kale Yadaiah had started his political from the grand old party. He won the 2014 election under the Congress banner. The Chevella legislator shited his allegiance to BRS in 2018 and got elected to the state Assembly twice after the move.
After coming to power in the state in December 2023 with 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly, the Congress successfully lured three BRS MLAs and several key leaders including BRS general secretary and Rajya Sabha member K Kesav Rao and his daughter and Greater Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi.
So far, six MLAs, including Kale Yadaiah have defected from the BRS to Congress as the party failed to open its account in the Parliamentary elections. The defections include Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, Ghanpur legislator Kadiyam Srihari, Tellam Venkat Rao representing Bhadrachalam, former Assembly speaker and Banswada MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Jagtial MLA M Sanjay Kumar.
Meanwhile, BRS urged Telangana Speaker Gaddam Prasad on Thursday, June 27 to disqualify MLAs Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and M Sanjay Kumar, all recent additions to the ruling Congress party after winning the election on pink party tickets.
Recent defections have already appeared to be causing internal strifes in Congress as discontent rises from various corners.
Party veteran and MLC Jeevan Reddy expressed unhappiness over BRS MLA from Jagtiyal and rival M Sanjay Kumar joining the party and threatened to quit. State leaders including deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka have already failed to pacify party veteran leader Jeevan Reddy over the addition of Jagtial MLA Sanjay Kumar to the party. The senior leader has been summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command.
