HYDERABAD: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi joined the Congress party in the presence of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and AICC in-charge Deepadas Munshi on Saturday.
Vijayalakshmi is the daughter of former BRS leader Keshav Rao.
Keshav Rao and former Deputy CM of Telangana State, Kadiyam Srihari, quit the BRS party on Friday. After quitting the BRS party, Rao confirmed that he would join the Congress party.
He also met Telangana CM Revanth Reddy at his residence in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, on Saturday.
Meanwhile, talking to ANI on Friday, Rao said, "I am excited to go back to my home, that is 'Ghar Wapsi.' I was in Congress for 55 years; the party has given me the kind of force it has not given to any other person in this country, a very few even if it has given at all. Congress has accorded me, PC President, CWC, in charge of four states, What more does anyone want? Joining the party is decided; I will join, but the date I will not be able to tell now."
After Rao and Srihari left the party, BRS Korutla MLA Dr Sanjay said, "They are very elderly people, Keshav Rao is 85 years old and Kadiam Srihari is 70 years old. I used to call them sir, giving them respect. But today I am saying that they are traitors of Telangana who don't have shame. I never speak bad words about anyone but today I am saying it because they are joining hands with Revanth Reddy and abandoned the party."
Voting across all 17 seats in Telangana will be conducted in a single phase on May 13.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BRS won nine of 17 seats, while the BJP and Congress bagged four and three seats, respectively.
The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases, starting on April 19 and ending on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to cast a vote in the general election.