Exodus of BRS MLAs to Congress continues in Telangana

Hyderabad, July 13 (IANS) The exodus of BRS MLAs to the Congress party in Telangana is continuing with another legislator joining the ruling party on Saturday.Arekapudi Gandhi, the MLA from Serilingampally constituency in Greater Hyderabad, joined the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at the latter’s residence.Gandhi is the ninth MLA of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to defect to Congress since it came to power in December 2023.Four corporators of BRS also joined the Congress party on the occasion. MLC P. Mahender Reddy and other leaders were present.Gandhi was elected Serilingampally on Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket in 2014 but later joined TRS (now BRS). He retained the seat in 2018 and 2023.Gandhi’s defection came a day after T. Prakash Goud joined the Congress. The four-time MLA from Rajendranagar constituency, also in Greater Hyderabad, was admitted into the party by Revanth Reddy on Friday night.Goud and Gandhi had met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his visit to Hyderabad last week.As Naidu plans to revive TDP in Telangana, this meeting sparked speculation that they will defect to TDP. However, they decided to join the ruling party.Goud was elected from Rajendranagar on a TDP ticket in 2009. He was re-elected in 2014 but later joined TRS (now BRS).With the latest defection, the BRS tally in the 119-member Assembly has come down to 29. BRS had bagged 39 seats in the election but lost the Secunderabad Cantonment seat to Congress in the by-election held in May.The tally of the Congress party in the Assembly has gone up to 74.The BRS also lost six MLCs and several senior leaders to Congress in the last seven months.–IANSms/svn