HYDERABAD : Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at his residence in Jubilee Hills on Friday. The MP, who decided to return to the Congress, discussed with the chief minister his intention to join the grand old party and the circumstances under which he left the BRS.
AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi, MLC B Mahesh Kumar Goud and DCC president C Rohin Reddy were present when he met the CM.
After his meeting with Revanth Reddy, the Rajya Sabha MP said that he served in the Congress for almost 55 years in several positions as a minister, MP, Congress Working Committee member, PCC president and in-charge for four states.
He also recalled submitting for the first time a letter to Sonia Gandhi along with 40 MLAs seeking separate statehood for Telangana in 1998. After 55 years in the Congress, he joined the BRS in 2013.
He praised former chief minister and BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao for the development of Telangana and recalled that the state was very backward as per the Planning Commission of India at the time of its creation. But KCR made all-out efforts to help it achieve progress in various sectors including power, water, irrigation, infrastructure, and IT and scored an impressive growth in the GSDP, he said, and added that the full credit for Telangana’s growth goes to the former CM.
Keshava Rao said that KCR felt a little upset when he told him of his intention to return to the Congress but he gave him the respect that he deserved. “KCR wanted me to stay with the BRS but he had told him that he had made up his mind to leave.” The Rajya Sabha member said that KCR did not keep his word of merging his TRS in the Congress if the latter created Telangana state.
Meanwhile, his son Viplav Kumar said that his father was joining the Congress not for any sinecures in the party or the government. Viplav said he may be under pressure from his daughter (his sister) to leave the BRS and join the grand old party. Viplav Kumar said that the entire family had a lot of respect for him and that he was a role model for all of them. He advised his sister Vijayalaxmi to resign as mayor before joining the Congress.
Mayor to join Congress today
Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi will be joining the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at 6.30 pm in Hyderabad on Saturday