HYDERABAD: While Congress Party boycotted the customary “At Home,” hosted by Governor ESL Narasimhan here on Friday evening on the occasion of Republic Day, two key leaders of the grand old party - former minister Danam Nagender and Rajya Sabha member Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar, took part in the Governor’s tea party, indicating their “future political moves”.
By crossing their party line, the two leaders seems to have provided credence to the speculation that their crossover to the ruling TRS is just a matter of time. It is learnt that Nagender, who has been maintaining distance from the party activities for several days, is understood to have made up his mind to embrace the ruling party, while Ananda Bhaskar is also reportedly considering the same, eyeing renewal of his membership of the Rajya Sabha as he is set to retire from the Upper House on April 2.
Interestingly, the two leaders were present at the Raj Bhavan, a few minutes after their senior colleagues in the Congress Party led by TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed the state government for the brutal murder of Nalgonda municipal chairperson Lakshmi’s husband Boddupalli Srinivas, who was a close aide of Nalgonda MLA Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, by holding a press meet in Nalgonda.
When reporters asked about his presence at the Governor’s tea party, Ananda Bhaskar said he came to the Raj Bhavan, as he was not aware of his party’s decision.Earlier, Congress leaders including Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy stayed away from ‘At Home,’ in protest against the Governor’s alleged “inclination” towards the ruling establishment over sand mafia issue and his recent act of calling CM as “Kaleshwaram Chandrasekhar Rao”. Besides CM KCR, his deputies, several ministers and leaders belonging to TRS and BJP attended the party hosted by the Governor.