BRS suffers setback, another MLA joins ruling Congress in Telangana

Hyderabad: The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) suffered a setback in Telangana as its Jagtial MLA Sanjay Kumar joined the ruling Congress on Sunday.

Kumar was welcomed into the Congress fold by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, party sources said late on Sunday. Kumar is the fifth BRS MLA to join the Congress. Reddy is also the president of the Congress' Telangana unit.

Sanjay Kumar joining the Congress came close on the heels of senior BRS MLA and former Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy switching over to the grand old party on June 21.

Earlier, BRS MLAs Kadiam Srihari, Danam Nagender and Tellam Venkat Rao joined the ruling party. Besides these MLAs, several other BRS leaders, including Hyderabad Mayor Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal, have also joined the Congress.

There have been speculations that more BRS MLAs would join the Congress in the days to come.

Sanjay Kumar, a doctor by profession, was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the second time.