BRS leader meets Revanth Reddy, likely to join Congress

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC and former minister P. Mahender Reddy and his wife and Vikarabad Zilla Parishad Chairperson Sunita called on Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday.

Mahender Reddy is likely to join Congress and contest for Lok Sabha from Chevella constituency.

The couple went to the Chief Minister’s residence along with Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and party leader Rohin Reddy.

Mahender Reddy was made minister by then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in August last year, just three months before Assembly elections. His induction was an attempt by the BRS to pacify him as he was expecting a party ticket to contest the coming Assembly elections from Tandur constituency.

The BRS leadership had also ensured a patch-up between Mahender Reddy and then Tandur MLA Rohit Reddy. A cold war was going on between them ever since Rohit Reddy defected to the BRS a few months after he was elected from Tandur as a Congress candidate in 2018.

Mahender Reddy, who had also served as a minister between 2014 and 2018 in the first BRS government, was with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before joining BRS. He was elected as an MLA from Tandur in 1994, 1998, and 2009 on a TDP ticket. He joined the BRS before 2014 elections and was elected from Tandur. However, he lost the election in 2018 to Congress’ Rohit Reddy.

In 2019, the BRS made him a member of the Legislative Council. He was re-elected to Council from the local body authorities constituency in 2021.

Meanwhile, Mahender Reddy’s brother and former MLA P. Narender Reddy said before the Assembly elections, Mahender Reddy had discussed with him the proposal to join Congress but he had rejected it. He made it clear that he will continue in the BRS.

Narender Reddy lost to Revanth Reddy from Kodangal constituency in the recent elections. He had defeated the Congress leader from the same constituency in 2018.