BRS MLA Arekapudi Gandhi Joins Congress Amid Party Switch

BRS MLA Arekapudi Gandhi has joined Congress in Telangana, increasing the number of opposition legislators who have switched to the ruling party to nine. Along with Gandhi, several BRS corporators also defected. Speculation suggests more BRS MLAs may join Congress soon, potentially weakening BRS's legislative strength further.

BRS MLA Arekapudi Gandhi joined the Congress in Telangana on Saturday, marking the ninth opposition legislator to make the switch. The move was welcomed by Chief Minister and PCC president A Revanth Reddy.

Gandhi, representing Serilingampally, was not alone in his defection. He was accompanied by BRS corporators in Hyderabad including Nagender Yadav, Uppalapati Srikanth, Manjula Raghunath Reddy, and Narne Srinivas, who also joined Congress. BRS had secured 39 seats out of 119 in last year's elections, while Congress won 64 seats.

With the addition of these nine MLAs, Congress's strength has increased to 74. Recently, six BRS MLCs also joined Congress, boosting its numbers to 10 in the 40-member Legislative Council. The trend of defections indicates a potential for more switches, with BRS MLA Danam Nagender predicting that the Chandrasekhar Rao-led party would soon face significant legislative erosion.

(With inputs from agencies.)