The political landscape in Telangana is seeing some frantic movement ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, with the Congress taking a significant hit in Banswada. Six of its councillors — Badi Srinivas, Layak, Akbar, Khader, Gangaram, and Writer Raju — officially crossed over to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). They were welcomed back by BRS working president KT Rama Rao, who handed them party scarves and urged them to call out the "deceit" of local MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, a former BRS heavyweight who had defected to the Congress after the Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, a major legal battle over floor-crossing saw a breakthrough on Wednesday. Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar dismissed the disqualification petition filed by the BRS against Jagtial MLA M Sanjay Kumar. This follows a string of similar dismissals; the Speaker has already rejected petitions against seven other BRS MLAs who were accused of shifting their loyalties to the ruling Congress. Now, only two such cases — involving Danam Nagender and Kadiam Srihari — remain on the Speaker's desk.
Sanjay Kumar was quick to defend his position after the news broke. Speaking to the media in Jagtial, he said that his highly publicised meeting with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in 2024 was only a "development-related" activity and not a party switch. In support of his claim that he is still a member of the BRS, he pointed out that ₹5,000 is still being deducted from his salary every month as a contribution to the BRS legislative party fund.
He also didn't shy away from pointing out the irony of the situation, noting that the BRS had frequently inducted MLAs from the TDP and Congress back when they were the ones in power. For now, Sanjay Kumar maintains that he is a BRS MLA simply working in tandem with the current government to secure projects for his constituency.
Also read: Telangana got a raw deal in Union Budget, say opposition leaders
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