K Kesava Rao quits BRS, to join Cong

Along with Kesava Rao, his daughter and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi will also be joining the party

In a big setback to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), senior leader and Rajya Sabha member K Kesava Rao on Thursday announced that he would quit the party and return to the Congress, his parent party.

Along with Kesava Rao, his daughter and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi will also be joining the party.

While Vijayalakshmi told reporters that she would be joining the Congress on March 30, Rao said he had not yet decided on the date of joining the grand old party. Along with Vijayalakshmi, former BRS minister A Indra Karan Reddy and former MP G Aravind Reddy also would join the Congress, he said.

On March 12, both father and daughter held discussions with All India Congress Committee in-charge of Telangana affairs Deepa Das Munshi, who went to his residence and invited them into the party.

On Thursday evening, Rao along with Vijayalakshmi went to the farmhouse of BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Erravelli village in Siddipet district and conveyed their decision to quit the party and join the Congress.

“I discussed the internal affairs of the BRS with the party president, including the arrest of Kavitha. After explaining my stand on various issues, I told him that I would resign from the party,” he said.

Stating that he had a long association of over 53 years with the Congress before he joined the BRS in 2014, Rao said his return to the Congress was like home coming for him. “Those who go on a pilgrimage would have to return to their respective homes. So, I am also coming back to my own house, the Congress,” he said.

Rao, a two-time Rajya Sabha member, said he had joined the BRS only for becoming part of the Telangana development. “But it is the Congress which granted Telangana. I was elected to the Rajya Sabha in my first term only with the help of second preferential votes of the Congress MLAs,” he reminded.

Stating that he was born and had grown in the Congress, the 84-year-old MP said he would like to die as a Congress man. “However, I have all the respect for KCR, who has given me due respect and recognition in the party. I thank the BRS leaders and cadre for their support to me all these days,” Rao, who is also the BRS parliamentary party leader and secretary general, said.

Vijayalakshmi said she had decided to join the BRS because she could do justice to the post of only if she was in the ruling party.

Meanwhile, KK’s son Viplav Kumar said he would continue in the BRS and he had nothing do with the decision of his father and sister.

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