In another setback to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), its MP from Peddapalli Lok Sabha Constituency Borlakunta Venkatesh Netha joined the Congress party in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka.
Mr. Venkatesh was welcomed back into the Congress by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal. It was about five years ago, just before the 2019 Parliament elections, Mr. Venkatesh quit the Congress to join the then Telangana Rashtra Samithi on the assurance that he would be given ticket to contest the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat. Accordingly, he was given ticket and he won the election with a majority of 95,180 votes defeating A. Chandrasekhar of the Congress.
Months before the 2019 Parliament elections, he contested unsuccessfully as the Congress candidate from Chennur Assembly Constituency in the 2018 early elections to the Assembly. He lost the election to Balka Suman of TRS with a margin of 28,132 votes. It is understood the Mr. Venkatesh returned to the Congress fold on the assurance that he would be given opportunity to contest the Peddapalli Parliament seat again
