A day after quitting the BJP accusing it of not doing enough to take on the ruling Bharata Rashtra Samiti (BRS), former Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy joined the Congress in the presence of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi.
Along with him several other leaders from the BJP like former MLA Enugu Ravinder Reddy, former MLC Kapilvai Dileep Kumar, BRS leader and former minister Motkupalli Narsimhlu and former MLCs Akula Lalitha and Nethi Vidyasagar also joined the party.
Sources said Mr. Rajgopal Reddy has been assured of Munugode seat by the party. However, there are already two aspirants for the seat, including Palvai Sravanthi — daughter of former MP Palvai Goverdhan Reddy — and Chalimela Krishna Reddy. However, Mr. Rajgopal Reddy enjoys considerable following in the constituency that he nurtured for long. In fact, the 85,000 odd votes polled by him as BJP candidate are attributed to his popularity and majority of the Congress voters shifted base to support him.
Mr. Reddy resigned as MLA forcing a bypoll in Munugode and he contested as the BJP candidate. The bypoll, considered to be the costliest in the country’s history, was won by the BRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy in a keenly fought battle. The winning margin was around 10,000 and the ruling party was accused of deploying all the ministers and MLAs covering each and every village for a desperate win.
