Former MP from Chevella Konda Vishweshwar Reddy on Monday dealt a huge shock to the Congress party by announcing his resignation from the party, which has already been facing a series of electoral debacles in the last few years.
He is learnt to have conveyed his decision to Pradesh Congress Committee president N Uttam Kumar Reddy. He also informed his followers in the Congress that he was quitting the party.
“I wanted to announce my decision much before, but I waited till the completion of the MLC elections so that it will not affect the prospects of my friend G Chinna Reddy, the Congress candidate in the MLC elections,” Konda reportedly told his followers.
Though there were reports that the former MP would join the Bharatiya Janata Party, he denied the same.
“I have decided to keep away from the Congress party for a few months. I will take a call later as to which party I would join after four months,” he said.
Konda reportedly told his followers that he had suffered huge loss in his business activities to the tune of Rs 200 crore because of his political activity. So, he said he would first concentrate on reviving his business activities, before returning to politics.
Sources close to him, however, said Konda had been in touch with the BJP leadership and would take a decision on joining the saffron party after the elections to various assemblies in the country.
Konda joined active politics before 2014 elections and won the Chevella seat on Telangana Rashtra Samithi ticket. However, he could not withstand the hegemony of the TRS bosses and quit the party before 2018 elections.
He joined the Congress and contested the elections from Chevella, but lost to TRS candidate Ranjith Reddy with a slender margin. He has been aggressively attacking the TRS on various for a since then.
But he appears to be disgusted with the groupism in the Congress and hence, decided to quit the same, sources said.
