HYDERABAD: TRS corporator from Khairatabad P Vijaya Reddy, daughter of late P Janardhan Reddy on Saturday announced that she would be joining the Congress on June 23, immediately sparking talk that some more TRS leaders were looking to switch loyalties.
The obvious answer to this question was a yes from the Congress, with leaders of the grand old party saying that they are in touch with a few TRS corporators in GHMC area. Speaking to Express, AICC secretary SA Sampath Kumar said that they are in touch with at least seven GHMC corporators. Some of them have agreed to join the grand old party, he said, adding that they are waiting for the right time.
To express her willingness to join the Congress, Vijaya Reddy called on Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief A Revanth Reddy at his residence on Saturday, who in turn asked her to attend his press conference. Ever since she was denied the Hyderabad Mayor post, Vijaya Reddy had been upset with the TRS. She finally gave an indication of the extent of her disappointment with the TRS with a sudden appearance in the TPCC chief’s press conference. Congress sources said that she has agreed to join the party ‘unconditionally’. However, she has high hopes of contesting again from the Khairatabad Assembly constituency which her father represented five times.
“I had contested for the Assembly election yet the TRS directed me to contest in the GHMC elections. I did and emerged victorious. They then confined me to a boundary. I want to serve the needy like my father and I believe that the Congress party provides me the scope to do it,” she said. In the 2014 general election, Vijaya Reddy contested for the Khairatabad Assembly constituency on YSR Congress Party ticket and secured 23,845 votes, which was 16.8 per cent of total polled votes.