Irked by denial of LS seat, Congress leader joins TRS

The Congress received a major jolt with former MLA and TPCC SC Cell chairman Arepalli Mohan joining the TRS on Sunday. He took the decision after the Congress did not nominate him from the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat, giving the ticket to former minister A. Chandrasekhar.

While Mr Mohan had lobbied hard, the party had gone with Mr Chandrasekar who belongs to the Ranga Reddy. Unable to accept the high command’s decision, Mr Mohan announced his decision to join the TRS at a press meet on Saturday evening. Former minister and Manthini MLA D. Sridhar Babu and MLC candidate T. Jeevan Reddy visited Mr Mohan's house and tried to persuade him to stay on.

Mr Mohan did not heed their requests and joined the TRS in the presence of working president K.T. Rama Rao on Sunday a few hours before TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's public meeting in Karimnagar.

Elsewhere, Karimnagar District Cooperative Bank director Ketireddy Devandar Reddy along with Thim-maur mandal Congress president D. Narasinga Rao and five sarpanches joined the TRS in the presence of Manakondur MLA Rasamai Balakishan and MP Vinod Kumar.

In Peddapalli district from Palakurthi mandal, Kotapalli sarpanch M Srinivas, upa-sarpanch B. Srikanth and MPTC Komuraiah joined the TRS in the presence of Ramagundam MLA Korukanti Chandar.