A Revanth Reddy, who resigned from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Telangana legislative Assembly on Saturday, on Sunday told his supporters that he has decided to join Congress to unite and strengthen the political forces against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
Charging the K Chandrasekhar Rao Government in the State with pursuing anti-people policies and imposing family rule in the State, former Telangana TDP chief Reddy said, “Telangana society and the intellectual community was urging me to unite the forces against the TRS misrule. That is why I have decided to join Congress.”
Revanth Reddy had submitted his resignation from TDP membership on Saturday after his attempt to meet the party national president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Vijaywada failed. When he requested the Chief Minister for one-on-one meeting, Naidu said that he was going to address a Press conference and will meet him after that. But Revanth Reddy handed over a three-page resignation letter to Naidu’s personal secretary and returned to Hyderabad.
Simultaneously, he also faxed his resignation letter to Telangana Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary.
Reddy, who met his supporters in his constituency Kodangal in Mahbubnagar district, convened another meeting in Hyderabad on Monday to finalise his future course of action.
At the meeting, he announced that he will contest from the same constituency till his death. “I bow my head before the wishes of the people of the constituency”, he said.
Alleging that the Government was committing atrocities and handcuffing the farmers, Revanth Reddy said, “The fort of KCR will be breached very soon.”
Crisis-gripped Telangana Telugu Desam Party earlier this month after Revanth Reddy met Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi amid the reports that he was planning to join Congress.
In retaliation, Naidu axed him from the posts of working president of Telangana unit of the party and the floor leader of Telugu Desam Party in the State Assembly.
In his resignation letter, Reddy expressed his high regards for Naidu and described him “like my father”. Reddy said that he learnt many things from Naidu and participating in agitation and struggles on people’s issues under his leadership was a matter of pride for him. “I am getting ready to wage a struggle to protect the interest of Telangana. Kindly look at my decision from that angle,” he said.
Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy’s resignation has created a stir in Telangana Telugu Desam Party and many other party leaders were also planning to join Congress along with him.
Two senior leaders State party general secretary K Bhopala Reddy from Nalgonda and Suryapet district president Patel Ramesh Reddy also met their supporters in their respective constituencies to take a final decision.
In another interesting twist to the drama, the BJP was also taking a keen interest in the developments in the TDP.
According to the BJP sources, party president Amit Shah spoke to Chandrababu Naidu over phone and urged him to ensure that Revanth Reddy does not join Congress party. He underlined the need of strengthening the TDP-BJP alliance in Telangana but Naidu expressed his inability to do anything in Reddy. “It is too late”, Naidu told Amit Shah.