Former PCC chief, D. Srinivas returns to Congress

Former State Congress president D. Srinivas returned to Congress after his stint with the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in Telangana

Former State Congress president of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh D. Srinivas, who left the party after the formation of Telangana to join the now-rechristened Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), returned to Congress at its headquarters of Gandhi Bhavan here on Sunday.

Confined to his wheel-chair, the frail-looking Mr. Srinivas, who was the PCC president when the Congress rode back to power in 2004 and 2009 elections in the combined Andhra Pradesh, was welcomed into the party by former PCC chief, V. Hanumantha Rao offering the party scarf to him. Senior leaders including AICC incharge for Telangana, Manickrao Thakare; TPCC president, A. Revanth Reddy; Congress MPs – N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkata Reddy; former PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah and K. Jana Reddy were among those present.

Mr. Srinivas’s elder son D. Sanjay, who was the Nizamabad Mayor when Congress was in power, also joined the party. His younger son, D. Arvind represents the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Nizamabad constituency. There seems to be some tussle within the family over Mr. Srinivas joining the Congress along with his son.

A press release written on the letterhead of Mr. Srinivas was circulated to the media earlier in the morning stating that Mr. Sanjay was joining the party while Mr. Srinivas would remain apolitical as of now. However, sources claimed that the note to the media was released by his son D. Arvind without his consent and knowledge.

The former PCC chief, who served as a Minister in the Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy cabinet and a strong proponent of Telangana, surprised everyone leaving the party to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS). Later, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the TRS. In just over a year after that, all the nine TRS MLAs of Nizamabad led by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter and then MP K. Kavitha sent in a resolution to Mr. Rao seeking action against Mr. Srinivas for anti-party activities.

The relations between Mr. Srinivas and Mr. KCR touched rock bottom when the former’s son D. Arvind contested as a BJP candidate against Kavitha in the 2019 Parliament elections from Nizamabad. Considered a major upset, he defeated Ms. Kavitha with a decent margin and it was believed that Mr. Srinivas played a crucial role in the win given his hold over Nizamabad district politics.

Several senior Congressmen acknowledged that Mr. KCR invited the Congress leader into his party to strengthen the political future of his daughter in Nizamabad. If a tall leader with a considerable following in Nizamabad district joins TRS (now BRS), KCR felt, it would hit the Congress morale and leave the political space open for Ms. Kavita for a long time to come.