The sitting MLA of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), V.M. Abraham, joined the Congress party in the presence of TPCC president, A. Revanth Reddy.
Mr. Abraham, who represents the Alampur constituency in the Jogulamba Gadwal district, was denied a ticket by the BRS. His name was announced in the first list but was withdrawn later to pave the way for Vijayudu, apparently at the insistence of BRS MLC Challa Venkatrami Reddy.
Mr. Abraham had started his campaign also after his name was cleared first and felt insulted once the party decided to withdraw him from the contest. His entry into Congress comes a few days before the Assembly elections and is seen as a big jolt to the ruling party.
Mr. Abraham was elected from Alampur on BRS ticket in 2018 defeating the then sitting MLA Sampath Kumar of Congress by over 44,000 votes. Interestingly, Sampath is the candidate of the Congress party now. He contested the 2014 elections on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket but lost to Sampath Kumar. He later joined the TRS (now BRS).
