Yet another BRS leader K Srihari deserts party, joins Cong

Hyderabad, Mar 31 (PTI) The BRS in Telangana suffered another jolt as its sitting MLA and former minister Kadiam Srihari and his daughter Kadiam Kavya on Sunday joined the Congress party in the presence of Chief Minister and TPCC president A Revanth Reddy. Congress leaders have earlier invited Srihari to join the party. For various reasons, people are moving away from BRS. So, to serve the people and to do something for the constituency, he will take a call (on joining the Congress party), Srihari had said. Kavya, who was BRS candidate from Warangal, also announced her decision to opt out citing recent allegations of corruption and phone tapping against the previous K Chandrasekhar Rao-led regime.

The allegations have lowered the party’s prestige, she had said. In a shot in the arm for Congress, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal had joined the party here on Saturday. Revanth Reddy and other Congress leaders called on Vijaya Laxmi’s father and BRS Rajya Sabha member K Keshav Rao at the latter’s residence. Earlier on Friday, Keshav Rao said that he would return to the Congress fold. Keshav Rao, designated as secretary general, was a key figure in the BRS party and chief architect of the party’s several programmes. Before joining hands with KCR, he had worked as PCC president of undivided Andhra Pradesh.