It was painful to leave Congress: Gandra

Bhupalpally: Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy who switched over to ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Monday said that it was painful to leave Congress which gave him political reckoning.

Addressing his followers here on Tuesday, Reddy and his wife and Jayashankar-Bhupalpally DCC president Jyothy said that they never had thought of deserting the Congress but were forced to join the TRS.

Both the leaders who appeared emotional said that they would say nothing against the Congress. "Development of Bhupalpally is my sole agenda, hence I joined the TRS. The upcoming Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project is the key to overall development of the region," Reddy said, asserting that he would fulfil all his election promises.

Reddy said that even though he joined the TRS he would not force his followers to follow the suit. "I will take care of those who follow me without fail. Please forgive us if anyone was hurt with our decision to join the TRS," Reddy said.

Referring to his critics, he said that he would like to answer them with his work. "I am not power hungry," Jyothy said, referring to the rumours that she aimed at Warangal Rural ZP chairperson post. Meanwhile, the Congress leadership has appointed Manthani MLA Duddilla Sridhar Babu as Bhupalpally constituency in charge.