BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao today suspended former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and former MLA and Minister Jupally Krishna Rao from the party for their anti-party activities. The duo are likely to join the BJP.
Both leaders had been critical of the state leadership but yesterday they slammed the Chief Minister at an Atmiya Sammelan, a meeting with party cadres at the grassroots level organised by Srinivasa Reddy in Kothagudem. Krishna Rao said that the Chief Minister was suppressing democracy and people were suffering under KCR.
Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy claimed that people will teach the BRS supremo a lesson this time and dash his dreams of becoming the chief minister for the third time. He spoke of the TSPSC paper leak and deaths of coal workers of Singareni colliery in mine disasters .
Srinivasa Reddy had won Khammam MP seat on the YSRCP ticket and switched to the BRS in 2014. But after winning only one seat in Khammam in Assembly elections, KCR switched strategy and offered the ticket to Nama Nageshwara Rao, who was with the TDP at that time. He managed to win the seat leaving Srinivasa Rao in political wilderness.
Jupally Krishna Rao, on the other hand had lost the last Assembly election to Congress candidate B Harshvardhan Reddy. A powerful leader who had been Panchayat minister in the first term of BRS was left in political wilderness when Harshvardhan Reddy switched sides to join BRS.
Meanwhile, the BJP which does not have strong leaders in all 119 constituencies is likely to welcome rebels from other parties.