Telangana Congress MLA and former minister Danam Nagender made headlines on Friday by alleging that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is on the brink of merging into the Congress party. Nagender claimed that several leaders from K Chandrashekar Rao's party are preparing to defect in the coming days. Amid speculations of BRS leaders meeting BJP officials in Delhi, Nagender insisted that the 'pink party' will soon be absorbed by Congress.
Nagender's statement coincided with the defection of Prakash Goud, MLA from Rajendranagar constituency in Greater Hyderabad. Goud joined Congress in the presence of CM Revanth Reddy at Reddy's residence on Friday night, accompanied by his followers.
Since losing power in Telangana last December, the BRS has experienced a steady stream of defections to the Congress. Notably, Nagender himself defected from BRS to join the Congress in March this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
"Around six MLAs will join in the next two days and over the next 15 days, the entire BRS will be merged into the Congress. Only three or four MLAs will stay with KCR," Nagender confidently predicted, according to India Today.
Having served as a minister in the Congress government of united Andhra Pradesh from 2009 to 2014, Nagender joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS, now BRS) in 2018 and was elected to the Assembly from Khairatabad.
Nagender, who won the Khairatabad seat on a BRS ticket, later joined the Congress, causing significant controversy.
To date, eight MLAs and six MLCs from BRS have defected to Congress since the last Assembly polls. Other prominent figures, including BRS Rajya Sabha member K Keshav Rao, his daughter, and Hyderabad Mayor Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal, have also joined Congress.
BRS sought to disqualify him through Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar. Former minister KT Rama Rao has condemned the defections as unconstitutional and has been actively protesting against them.