Telangana: KTR invites former Congress leader Jeevan Reddy to join party

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao visited former Congress leader Jeevan Reddy on Thursday, April 9, and invited him to join the pink party.

Earlier in the day, Jeevan Reddy had praised BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), saying the former chief minister’s rule was much better than Revanth Reddy’s tenure.

He also accused the current government of undoing the work of the BRS government during its tenure.

Addressing the media, Reddy said, “The people elected Congress thinking it could do better than the BRS, but that has not happened.”

He praised KCR for implementing the Rythu Bandhu scheme, saying that even though it wasn’t mentioned in the BRS’ manifesto, the former CM mobilised funds for the scheme. “KCR implemented welfare schemes like Kalyana Lakshmi, Shadi Mubarak and KCR kits for women. These schemes are not available anywhere else in India,” he said.

The statement comes amid speculation that the former Congress leader may join the BRS.

Jeevan Reddy’s resignation

Reddy resigned as a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on March 25, accusing the Grand Old Party of diluting the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s slogan “Jai Bhim, Jai Babu, Jai Samvidhan.”

He alleged that his party was violating the Constitution by allowing a turncoat MLA to interfere in the party’s internal affairs.

In his resignation letter addressed to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Reddy expressed the humiliation he had been facing within the Congress for the past 20 months, ever since his political opponent and BRS Jagtial MLA M Sanjay Kumar was interfering in the party’s internal matters.

Reddy referred to Kumar as a turncoat MLA who has been calling the shots, whether it was appointing his followers in nominated positions in Jagtial constituency or fielding his supporters (30 out of 50 councillor candidates) who had nothing to do with the Congress as the party’s candidates in the municipal elections.

Also mentioning that though the disgruntled original Congress’ candidates contested as independents in the municipal election, Jeevan Reddy said that after they won, they supported the Congress.