A 'deal' in the offing for Congress MLA Gandra Jyothy

Warangal: Another Congress MLA from erstwhile Warangal district seems to be ready to jump ship to ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS); in lieu if his wife was made zilla parishad chairperson.

The speculation is already rife that Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy is likely to join the TRS on April 24. If it happens, the Congress, which won two out of the 12 Assembly seats in erstwhile Warangal district, will be left with just one legislator – Seethakka alias Danasari Anasuya, who represents Mulugu.

The development comes in as a huge surprise for the party cadres. Since the Assembly elections, the Congress leadership gave utmost importance to Gandra.

It may be mentioned here that he defeated former Speaker Sirikonda Madhusudana Chary despite the TRS wave in the region. First up, Congress leadership appointed his wife Jyothy as the DCC president of Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district, this despite opposition from within the party cadre.

Recently, he was made the in-charge of Warangal Parliamentary Constituency from where Dommati Sambaiah contested.

Party sources say that Gandra has been in touch with the TRS leadership for some time. In fact, a political speculation triggered when Gandra, who along with Manthani MLA D Sridhar Babu and Mulugu MLA Seethakka, met Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at Medigadda barrage, part of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, in January.

Then Gandra, who downplayed it as a rumour, said that he spoke to the CM about the displaced under the project, who have been waiting for compensation, and about the necessity of continuing Bhupalpally as the district headquarters as there was a speculation of replacing it with Parkal.

Meanwhile, it's learnt that Gandra's wife and DCC president Jyothy is all set to get into electoral battle from Shayampet zilla parishad territorial constituency (ZPTC).

It's said that Jyothy, who is aimed at ZP chairperson post, wants to shift her base to Warangal Rural district as the Jayashankar-Bhupalpally ZP chairman post was reserved for Scheduled Castes.