Revanth Reddy formally joins Congress

Says he’s only joining the party to dethrone KCR, ‘free Telangana’

Bringing a two-month tale of suspense to a climax, former Telangana Telugu Desam Party (TDP) working president A. Revanth Reddy yesterday formally joined the Congress party.

Accompanied by the Telangana state Congress president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and All India Congress Committee Secretary in charge of Telangana, R.C. Kuntia, Revanth Reddy met the Congress vicePresident, Rahul Gandhi, at his residence.

Gandhi formally welcomed Revanth Reddy into the Congress, putting a Congress bandanna around his shoulders.

Besides Revanth Reddy, several other Telangana TDP leaders also joined the Congress party.

Teammates

They include former general secretary of Telangana TDP Patel Ramesh Reddy, former Naxalite-turned-politician and former TDP MLA Seetakka, former MLAs Vem Narayana Reddy, Vijay Ramanna Rao, Boda Janardhan and M. Satyam.

From Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), a former minister, D. Sambaiah, and some leaders of Osmania University Joint Action Committee also joined the Congress.

Speaking to media, Kuntia welcomed Revanth Reddy into the Congress fold. “In Telangana state, the ordinary people have not got justice. Only the family of KCR has benefited,” he said, asserting that the Congress will defeat the TRS regime in the next elections.

Revanth Reddy, who resigned from the primary membership of TDP and the state assembly last week, said: “My only aim is to dethrone K. Chandrasekhar Rao, to free the state from the clutches of the corrupt family of the chief minister.”