On a day his sister Y S Sharmila joined the Congress, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday met BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao and mother Vijayamma.
Rao is recuperating from a hip replacement surgery at his residence in Hyderabad.
Although sources called Reddy’s visit to KCR a courtesy call, the meeting coincided with Sharmila’s latest political move which is likely to boost the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.
Reddy arrived at Begumpet airport by a special flight from Vijayawada and drove to KCR’s residence in Banjara Hills where he was welcomed by BRS working president K T Rama Rao. The Andhra Pradesh chief minister was accompanied by YSRCP MP P Mithun Reddy and other party leaders.
The meeting lasted for an hour before Reddy left for Lotus Pond to meet his mother Vijayamma. She had resigned from YSRCP to join Sharmila’s YSRTP which was merged with the Congress on Thursday.
Before leaving for Delhi, Sharmila had on Wednesday visited her brother in Vijayawada and invited him to her son’s wedding scheduled in February.
KCR had openly supported Reddy during 2019 election, calling it a “return gift” to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu who had campaigned against him in Telangana by joining hands with the Congress.
Initially, as chief ministers of two Telugu states, both KCR and Reddy had worked in tandem, but fell out over irrigation projects and water sharing. The last time the duo met was in 2021 in a private function.
However, the Congress had accused Reddy of creating drama to help KCR when 400 policemen had entered the Nagarjunasagar project, damaged CCTVs and released 10,000 cusec of water from the right canal of the project in the night before polling began in Telangana on November 30.