HYDERABAD: Giving a jolt to the already sulking Congress party ahead of the elections to the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) elections, former minister and Congress senior leader Basavaraju Saraiah on Tuesday crossed over to the ruling TRS prompting the TPCC to suspend him from the party.
Saraiah along with followers and some TDP leaders from Warangal town joined the TRS in the presence of TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in Hyderabad.
It is learnt that some ministers and TRS senior leaders were in touch with Saraiah since the past few days asking him to join the TRS. As the Congress got wind of Saraiah’s inclination to join the pink party, the TPCC immediately suspended the leader from the party.
The Congress, which is trying hard to rejuvenate itself in Telangana, got a drubbing in the Warangal Lok Sabha byelection last year and the desertion of Saraiah came as another shock to the party ahead of GWMC elections.
Meanwhile, Rao termed the desertion of other party leaders into the TRS as reunification of political forces for the future and development of Telangana.
Rao said the time has come to give a befitting answer to those who have earlier said that Telangana leaders are not able administrators. He said the Telangana government had initiated various schemes for the benefit of SCs, STs, BCs and minorities. ‘‘It is time that all political forces should join hands and come forward for the development of Telangana,’’ he said.
Others who joined the TRS include TDP Warangal city president A Murali, KUDA former chairman M Rammohan, former Grandalaya Samastha chairman P Natraj and others.