In another setback to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), its MP from Peddapalli Lok Sabha Constituency Borlakunta Venkatesh Netha joined the Congress party in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka.
Mr. Venkatesh was welcomed back into the Congress by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal. It was about five years ago, just before the 2019 Parliament elections, Mr. Venkatesh quit the Congress to join the then Telangana Rashtra Samithi on the assurance that he would be given ticket to contest the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat. Accordingly, he was given ticket and he won the election with a majority of 95,180 votes defeating A. Chandrasekhar of the Congress.
Months before the 2019 Parliament elections, he contested unsuccessfully as the Congress candidate from Chennur Assembly Constituency in the 2018 early elections to the Assembly. He lost the election to Balka Suman of TRS with a margin of 28,132 votes. It is understood the Mr. Venkatesh returned to the Congress fold on the assurance that he would be given opportunity to contest the Peddapalli Parliament seat again
The quitting of BRS by Mr. Venkatesh comes close on the heels of former Deputy Chief Minister T. Rajaiah quitting the party with plans to join the Congress party and with an eye on Warangal Parliament seat. Mr. Rajaiah too was with Congress till 2011. He joined TRS in 2012 during the movement for statehood to Telangana and won the by-election to Station Ghanpur seat he held since 2009.
BRS MP from Peddapalli B. Venkatesh Netha joins Congress in the presence of CM A. Revanth Reddy and others in New Delhi on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: By Arrangement
Mr. Venkatesh went to Mr. Venugopal’s residence along with Mr. Revanth Reddy, Mr. Vikramarka, Mallu Ravi, Challa Vamshichand Reddy, Yennam Srinivas Reddy and other leaders to join the Congress. Later, they went to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence too.
Meanwhile, sources in BRS stated that the Mr. Venkatesh joined the Congress after getting some air about the possible change of the candidate by the party in Peddapalli this time along with a few other sitting seats. The BRS has failed to win even one of the seven Assembly segments in the Peddapalli Lok Sabha Constituency limits recently.
