Boost to Telangana Congress as miffed senior leader set to return to party from BJP

One half of a powerful brother duo, Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy had lost from the Munugode bypoll where he was fielded by BJP

Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy BJP Congress Telangana

Sources within the BJP told The Indian Express that Raj Gopal was “unhappy in the BJP as he was not given any important post”. (Facebook/ Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy)

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In a boost to the Congress in Telangana ahead of the forthcoming polls, BJP executive committee member Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy announced his resignation Wednesday and said he would be joining the Congress.

Raj Gopal had quit the Congress in August last year, citing differences with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief A Revanth Reddy. He later joined the BJP, which fielded him from the Munugode seat that he had vacated. However, he lost the bypoll to K Prabhakar Reddy of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

Sources within the BJP told The Indian Express that Raj Gopal was “unhappy in the BJP as he was not given any important post”. They said he had also raised complaints about Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s style of functioning when he was BJP state chief. Kumar was replaced with Union Minister G Kishan Reddy earlier this year.

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Taking to his social media handles, Raj Gopal wrote: “Activists are my strength. Fans are my breath. Their aspirations are my ambition. Positions are not new to me. My decision is for the people.”

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Raj Gopal is expected to formally return to the Congress fold at a public meeting attended by senior party leader Rahul Gandhi in the coming days.

The Reddy brothers

Raj Gopal Reddy, 55, made his electoral debut on the Congress ticket in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when he won from Bhongir. In the 2014 polls, he lost this seat to a BRS candidate. His brother Venkat Reddy had been a four-time MLA from the Nalgonda constituency. The brothers have their hold over a large region of the erstwhile Nalgonda district.

While quitting the Congress last year, Raj Gopal said that only the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can put an end to the family rule of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

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“I cannot work with a man who abused Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi a few years ago, but is now in a leadership position in the Telangana Congress,” Reddy had said, referring to Revanth Reddy, the MP from Malkajgiri constituency and an ex-TDP leader.

From BJP’s point of view

The exit could come as a dampener for the BJP, which is currently dealing with a rejuvenated Congress to take on the ruling BRS led by KCR.

The BJP has expanded its footprint in Telangana since the 2019 general elections when it won 4 of the total 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state as against the BRS’s 9 and the Congress 3. The party had managed to get just 1 seat in the 2018 Assembly polls. After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it scored an impressive performance in the 2020 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, bagging 48 of its 150 wards, besides wresting the Huzurabad and Dubbaka Assembly constituencies from the TRS in bypolls.

However, lately, the BJP is seen as having lost steam.