Senior Telangana leader Srinivas returns to Congress

Former MP of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) D. Srinivas on Sunday re-joined the Congress, nearly nine years after he had quit the party.

The senior leader along with his son Dharampuri Sanjay joined the party in the presence of Telangana Congress in-charge Manikrao Thakare, state Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy and other leaders.

Srinivas, whose other son D. Arvind is a BJP MP from Nizamabad, reached Gandhi Bhavan, the state headquarters of Congress party, in a wheel-chair.

The former Rajya Sabha member was re-inducted into the party in the presence of senior leaders like K. Jana Reddy, Renuka Chowdary and Uttam Kumar Reddy.

It was a homecoming for Srinivas, who was leading the Congress in undivided Andhra Pradesh when it returned to power in 2004. He twice headed Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) and also served as a minister in the Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet.

Srinivas had switched loyalties to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) after it formed the first government in newly carved out Telangana state in 2014. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had rewarded him with the post of special advisor to the government and later made him Rajya Sabha member in 2016.

However, on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the senior leader from Nizamabad faced allegations of anti-party activities.

KCR's daughter K. Kavitha, who was seeking re-election from Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, and other TRS leaders had complained to KCR that Srinivas was working against the party by promoting his son D. Arvind, who had joined the BJP. Kavitha lost the election to Arvind. Though Srinivas denied the allegations of working against the TRS and tried to meet KCR to clarify his stand, he was denied the appointment and since he remained politically inactive. In December 2021, Srinivas met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. She was believed to have given the green signal for his return to the party. However, Srinivas' return to the Congress was delayed apparently due to health reasons.