Telangana Assembly elections: Six BRS councillors switch to Congress

Telangana Assembly polls are only a few weeks away, and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lost the Nalgonda Municipal Council to the Congress on Tuesday, as six of BRS' councillors including the vice-chairman Abbagoni Ramesh, switched sides, a Deccan Chronicle (DC) report said. The six councillors have left BRS to join Congress. The leaders joined the grand old party in the presence of Congress leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, the report added.

With the six councillors joining the Congress, the party now has 26 members in the council, while the BRS has only 14. The BJP has six, and the AIMIM has one. Taking a jibe at the BRS government, Congress leader Venkat Reddy said, "We are in a majority in the council now. Many sarpanches and MPTCs have joined the Congress. The entire state is seeing Opposition leaders join the Congress. The lacklustre manifesto has left the BRS rank and file disillusioned."

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The Congress MP said that Jagadish Reddy would lose from Suryapet as he has not respected his party workers. He was quoted in the DC report as saying, "People are averse to the BRS. Chander Rao, a close relative of KCR will join the Congress. Our leader, Uttam Kumar Reddy met him today. We will cross 80 to 90 seats in the Assembly polls for sure."

As the date for the Telangana elections approaches, Congress is planning an intense campaign. To this end, the TPCC has lined up a bus yatra across the state with senior leaders like Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in attendance.

The Congress has promised "six guarantees" in its manifesto, which appear to be gaining traction in the state. So much so that BRS itself has included similar promises in its manifesto, including providing LPG cylinders at an affordable price of Rs 400.