A clear picture on the political road to be taken by former Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leaders, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao, will emerge within 10 days even as they seem to be distancing themselves from the invitation sent by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to join them.
“We will take a call after 10 days,” a close associate of Mr. Srinivas Reddy told The Hindu even as news emerged that the meeting between them and BJP MLA Eatala Rajender failed to convince them to join the BJP. The leaders apparently met at a secret location leaving their security for an open talk but the deadlock continues. Both the leaders, whose only aim seems to defeat the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), were said to have sought details on BJP’s plans to decimate the BRS.
Whether they will join the Congress or start their own political outfit is a question that they are not willing to answer as of now but their followers are of the opinion that they should shed the idea of a political platform as that would not fit into the scheme of Telangana politics as of now. The Congress, on the other hand, is hopeful of drawing them into their fold.
The meeting with Mr. Eatala Rajender had an open discussion where both leaders were said to have expressed their opinion that the BJP was too soft on the alleged corrupt practices of the BRS government. That people would take BJP’s allegations seriously only when there is some action was their opinion. Mr. Rajender, however, could not convince them, according to sources.
Mr. Srinivas Reddy, a former Parliament member from Khammam, elected on the YSRCP ticket in 2014 joined the TRS within a few months. However, he was denied ticket in the 2019 elections and TDP leader Nama Nageshwar Rao secured the ticket within days of joining the TRS. This did not go down well with him. Despite the best efforts of IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao to keep him in the party his differences with KCR increased and the distance widened.
Mr. Jupally Krishna Rao, a former Minister in the Congress, joined the TRS during the movement and went on to become a Minister in the first TRS government in 2014. He lost to the Congress candidate, Harshvardhan Reddy from the Kollapur constituency who later defected to the TRS. Since then, he feels he had been sidelined in the party but continued to show his strength in the local elections fielding independents against the TRS candidates.
