As the Telangana Assembly elections draw closer, four-time MLA V Chandar Rao, along with 1,000 other second-tier leaders of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), joined the Congress on October 22 in the presence of Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy. Deccan Chronicle (DC) report said. Other BRS leaders who have joined the Congress party include former DCCB chairman Bura Pulla Reddy and market committee chairman Mahbub Jani, who stood as MLA candidate.
The DC report said that BRS party members who left the ruling party to join the Congress were said to have been angry over BRS Bollam retaining Mallaiah Yadav as its MLA candidate, ignoring the demand of party workers. Earlier, Yadav had won the 2018 state assembly elections by a narrow margin.
As the BRS members joined the Congress, Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed confidence that the Congress would win the Telangana Assembly elections with a majority of over 50,000 votes in Kodad constituency, the DC report added.
The Congress party is leaving no stone unturned to put up a tough fight against the ruling BRS in the state. The party started its Bus Yatra in the state in the presence of senior party leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to boost the party’s prospects in the state. Earlier, the party also came up with its six plans, which the Congress calls ‘Six Guarantees’, including the promise to provide households with affordable LPG cylinders for Rs 500.
The Congress has alleged that the BJP and the BRS are working hand-in-hand for the upcoming state elections. This has worried senior leaders of both the BJP and the BRS, both of whom have come out with clarifications denying any understanding between them.
On October 9, India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) announced the election manifesto for the five states bound for elections: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana. The Telangana elections will be held on November 30 and the results will be declared on December 3.