Cong intensifies ‘Operation Akarsh’

Hyderabad: Ahead of the next month’s Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, the exodus of leaders from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) continued as another MLA joined the ruling Congress party on Sunday.

Tellam Venkat Rao, BRS MLA from Bhadrachalam, joined the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy.

He is the third MLA from the main opposition party to join Congress in less than a month.

Venkat Rao was elected from Bhadrachalam in the erstwhile Khammam district in the recent Assembly elections. This was the only seat held by BRS among the 10 seats in the district.

Venkat Rao had quit BRS and joined Congress along with Srinivas Reddy in July last year in the presence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a public meeting in Khammam. He, however, later returned to BRS after the Congress party fielded the sitting MLA from Bhadrachalam, Podem Veeraiah.

Venkat Rao, who entered the fray on a BRS ticket, defeated Podem Veeaiah of Congress by 5,719 votes. This is the latest in a series of setbacks suffered by the BRS since it lost power to the Congress party in the state.

Close to dozen MLAsto follow suit

According to party sources, the Congress has intensified the ‘Operation Akarsh’ and scores of MLAs will be joining the party soon.

The MLAs who are likely to switch loyalties include Bandari Lakshma Reddy (Uppal), Maganti Gopinath (Jubilee Hills), Kaleru Venkatesh (Amberpet), Muta Gopal (Musheerabad), K Manik Rao (Zaheerabad), T Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), D Sudheer Reddy (L B Nagar), Kova Laxmi (Asifabad), Arikepudi Gandhi (Serilingampally), Gangula Kamalakar (Karimnagar), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella).