BRS leader Kadiyam Srihari, daughter join Congress

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) senior leader and MLA Kadiyam Srihari, along with his daughter Kadiyam Kavya, joined the Congress party here on Sunday.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi welcomed them into the party.

The development came two days after the Congress leaders invited the father-daughter duo to join the ruling party.

Srihari, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, made the decision after a meeting with the followers.

Srihari was elected to the Assembly from Station Ghanpur constituency in the recent elections. His daughter was declared BRS candidate for Warangal Lok Sabha seat but on March 28, she announced her decision to opt out of the contest.

It was immediately not clear if Congress will field Srihari or his daughter for Warangal Lok Sabha seat

While withdrawing from contest for Warangal Lok Sabha seat, Kavya wrote to BRS chief KCR that the allegations of corruption, encroachments, phone tapping and liquor scam against party leaders have damaged the party’s image. She also mentioned that lack of coordination and cooperation among BRS leaders in the district caused more damage to the party.

BRS had decided to field Kavya after denying ticket to sitting MP Pasunuri Dayakar. Peeved over this, Dayakar joined the Congress party.

Dayakar was elected in 2015 by-election and in 2019, from Warangal, a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.

Srihari, a prominent SC leader who started his political journey in the 1980s with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), had also served as a minister in the Cabinets of N. T. Rama Rao and Chandrababu Naidu in combined Andhra Pradesh. He had also served as TDP General Secretary and Politburo member.

A four-time MLA from Station Ghanpur in Warangal district, he joined TRS (now BRS) in 2013.

He was elected to Lok Sabha from Warangal on TRS ticket in 2014, but the next year, BRS president and then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao inducted him into the Cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister.

“For various reasons, people are moving away from BRS. To serve the people and do something for the constituency, we have to take a call,” Srihari had said two days ago after meeting Deepa Dasmunshi and other leaders.

Srihari and his daughter joined Congress a day after Hyderabad Mayor Vijayalaxmi Gadwal of BRS joined the ruling party.

Vijayalaxmi is daughter of BRS General Secretary and MP K. Keshava Rao, who has also decided to join the Congress party.