Wind blows in Congress favour in Warangal

Warangal : In a major jolt to the ruling BRS, several key leaders of that party joined the Congress in the presence of TPCC president A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday. The development is seen as a rude shock to the Warangal East sitting MLA Nannapuneni Narender who is seeking re-election. It also reflects that support for Konda Surekha is growing by leaps and bounds.

The mastermind behind these crossovers is none other than Surekha’s husband and former MLC Konda Murali. It’s a well-known fact that while Surekha is in action outside, Konda Murali manoeuvres their forces efficiently.

Among those who joined the Congress are BRS State leader Gopal Naveen Raj, Corporator Gundeti Narendra Kumar, PACS chairman Kedala Janardhan, former Corporators Kedala Padma, Bathini Vasundhara, T Laxman, Basani Srinivas, youth leader Billa Pavan, Jannu Prasanna, Gorantala Raju, Kokkula Sathish, Venu and others. This apart, party sources say that more Corporators including deputy mayor Shamim Rizwana Masood are set to join the Congress. With more leaders to follow the suit, it’s going to be an uphill task for the BRS in the Warangal East constituency.

On the other hand, the sitting MLA Narender appears to have lost support from within his party for various reasons. Even though the BRS has a powerful battery of leaders, only Banda Prakash, the Legislative Council deputy chairman, is visible to support Narender. While MLC Baswaraj Saraiah, TS Roads Development Corporation chairman Mettu Srinivas are away as the in-charges of Bhupalpally and Mulugu, the other prominent leaders including mayor Gundu Sudharani are campaigning in the Warangal West constituency in support of D Vinay Bhaskar. Deputy mayor Shamim Rizwana Masood who used to accompany Narender in party affairs is likely to defect to the Congress anytime, according to the BRS sources.