BRS candidate for Warangal seat drops out of contest, to join Cong

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) received yet another setback on Friday with its senior leader and sitting lawmaker Kadiyam Srihari deciding to quit the party, hours after his daughter Kadiyam Kavya, who was given the BRS ticket for Warangal (SC) Lok Sabha seat, pulled herself out of the contest.

On Friday morning, senior Congress leaders led by AICC (All India Congress Committee) in-charge of Telangana affairs Deepa Dasmunsi went to the residence of Srihari and held discussions with him and his daughter. Kavya is likely to be given the Congress ticket for the same Warangal Lok Sabha seat, a Congress leader familiar with the development said.

“I shall take a call on joining the Congress shortly, after discussing with my followers. It is true that many leaders and workers are not happy with the BRS and are quitting the party for various reasons,” Srihari, who served as deputy chief minister of Telangana between 2014 and 2018, told reporters after the meeting.

The Congress leader quoted above said both Srihari and Kavya are likely to join the Congress on Saturday. “Srihari asked all his followers in Station Ghanpur assembly constituency which he represents, to come to Hyderabad on Saturday to join the Congress,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday night, Kavya dashed off a letter to BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao stating that she was upset with the latest scandals that were rocking the party in the recent past. “Allegations of corruption, encroachments, and phone tapping and liquor scams have damaged the party’s image,” she said in the letter.

She also mentioned that the lack of coordination and cooperation among BRS leaders in the district caused more damage to the party. While thanking KCR for giving her an opportunity by naming her as the party candidate, she said she was withdrawing from the contest for Warangal Lok Sabha seat.

On March 13, the BRS chief announced the name of Kavya, daughter of Srihari, after denying the ticket to sitting MP Pasunuri Dayakar. Upset with KCR’s decision, Dayakar, a two-time MP from Warangal, joined the Congress a day later.

The Congress leader quoted above said the party had contacted Srihari in the first week of March itself, seeking to field him as the party candidate for Warangal Lok Sabha seat. However, he wanted the ticket to be given to his daughter Kavya.

“Even as the negotiations were going on, the BRS chief became alert and offered the BRS ticket to Kavya from the Warangal seat. However, with most of the BRS leaders and cadre defecting to the Congress, Kavya realised that she won’t be able to win the seat on the BRS ticket,” the party leader said.

It was only on Thursday night that veteran BRS leader and Rajya Sabha member K Kesava Rao announced his resignation from the party and his decision to join the Congress.

Rao’s daughter Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, who is presently mayor of greater Hyderabad municipal corporation (GHMC), also announced that she would be quitting the party and joining the Congress on Saturday. Former minister A Indrakaran Reddy and former MLA G Aravind Reddy would also join the Congress along with her.