HYDERABAD: Veteran politician and TRS MP D Srinivas will be formally returning to the Congress fold in the presence of AICC chief Sonia Gandhi on January 24.
According to party sources, the senior leader has finally decided to return to the grand old party after much deliberations. This development comes in the backdrop of his December 16 meeting with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. Though it was speculated after the meeting that he had made up his mind to rejoin the Congress, he was reluctant to lose his Rajya Sabha membership.
It is believed that Srinivas is now ready to sacrifice this post as his disenchantment with the TRS has increased.
The distance between Srinivas and Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao have widened after latter grew suspicious of his activities in recent years, owing to local politics in Nizamabad. The veteran leader felt humiliated after Rao failed to lend his ear and give him an appointment at Pragathi Bhavan.
Before meeting Sonia Gandhi, rumours flew thick and fast that Srinivas would be joining the BJP since he had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The former minister, who remained in the Congress till the formation of Telangana, had joined the TRS in 2015. Soon after his joining the pink party, he was appointed as Government Adviser.
Later, he became a Rajya Sabha member and his term will end in June this year. Despite his association with the TRS for past several years, Srinivas had remained in touch with Congress high command.
The veteran politician who had served twice as erstwhile APCC chief is a well-known public face with close to four-decade-long political career.
On January 24, he will be officially joining the Congress along with scores of his followers, including his elder son and former Nizamabad Mayor D Sanjay, who had already expressed his willingness to join the party.