Cong in damage control mode as Jeevan Reddy revolts in Jagtial

Hyderabad: Internal bickering came to light in the Congress soon after BRS MLA from Jagtial Sanjay Kumar switched loyalties to the ruling party. Senior leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy, who was the party in-charge of Jagtial Assembly constituency, raised a banner of revolt for having invited the BRS MLA in the party without his consent. It is learnt that Jeevan Reddy threatened to quit the party and also the MLC post.

The alerted party leadership deputed State IT and Industry minister D Sridhar Babu to convince the senior leader. Leaders said that the Congress leader held an emergency meeting with his supporters and followers and decided to quit the party. Soon after news broke out that sulking Jeevan Reddy made up his mind to leave the party, State party leadership plunged into action to control the damage.

Jeevan Reddy lost to Sanjay Kumar two times in the 2018 and 2023 assembly elections. He was also defeated in the recently held Lok Sabha elections from Nizamabad segment. The senior leader faced strong criticism for allegedly supporting BJP candidate D Arvind in 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the same Parliamentary constituency.

Leaders said that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is inclined to strengthen the party in Jagtial assembly segment by inviting the sitting BRS MLA. The CM was also planning to develop new leadership in the constituency by replacing the seniormost leader Jeevan Reddy.