Is Congress looking to poach BRS MLAs? ‘Courtesy visits’ trigger Telangana buzz

A spate of “courtesy visits” by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs withTelangana CM Revanth Reddy over the past week has sparked a buzz in the state about the Congress attempting to poach the Opposition party’s MLAs.

The latest meeting came on Sunday when Rajendranagar MLA Prakash Goud met the CM. His photo sporting the Congress’s khanduva (scarf) gave a boost to the speculation first triggered on January 23 when MLAs Sunita Lakshma Reddy (Narsapur), K Prabhakar Reddy (Dubbak), G Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and Manik Rao (Zaheerabad), all from the erstwhile Medak district, met Revanth.

BRS MLA Prakash Goud (Rajendra Nagar) met with Chief Minister <a href=«https://twitter.com/revanth_anumula?ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">@revanth_anumula

— Sama Ram Mohan Reddy (@RamMohanINC) <a href=«https://twitter.com/RamMohanINC/status/1751598314557259845?ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">January 28, 2024

The MLAs have categorically denied any such move and said they met the CM to discuss issues related to their constituencies. “It is our right to inform the Chief Minister about the problems and development of the constituencies. We have no intention of changing parties. We did not negotiate with anyone. Our meeting with the CM was to explain the problems of Medak district. Some people are trying to create negative propaganda but our senior leaders have complete confidence in us. We will be with KCR till our last breath,” said Prabhakar Reddy.

The Dubbak MLA, who defeated the BJP’s Raghunandan Rao in the recent Assembly elections, led the delegation of four MLAs and submitted a memorandum regarding protocol discrepancies in