Telangana: Big jolt to State Congress as senior leader joins BJP

Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader A Maheshwar Reddy gave a big jolt to the Telangana Congress by joining BJP on Thursday in New Delhi. He left the party which is in trouble as leaders feel the saffron party is seeking to poach strong Congressmen in districts in coming days.

Reddy joined the BJP in the presence of party national president JP Nadda and general secretary Tarun Chug. He locked horns with TPCC president A Revanth Reddy on promoting his rivals in the party in his Assembly constituency. The AICC high command recently issued notices to Maheshwar Reddy for anti-party activities.

Senior BJP leader and MLA Eatala Rajender succeeded in convincing Reddy to join the party. State BJP president Bandi Sanjay was present at the joining programme.

Sources said that BJP was in touch with some more Congress leaders who are unhappy with the State leadership. The saffron leaders are making all-out efforts to poach strong Congress leaders in Nalgonda, Khammam, Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts.

"Most of them are ready to join BJP but watching political developments. By the time of the assembly elections, many leaders will join the party", according to sources.