Cong suffers big jolt in Khammam, KCR welcomes senior oppn leaders into BRS

Hyderabad: The Congress in Khammam district suffered a major jolt on Friday with some of its senior leaders joining the BRS.

The Congress leaders, whom Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao welcomed into the party, include former minister Sambhani Chandrashekar, student leader in the statehood movement K. Manavata Rai, who is considered a close aide to TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy and TPCC general secretary Yadavalli Krishna, Dr Ramachandru Naik among others.

The Congress leaders met with Chandrashekar Rao at the latter’s farm house at Erravalli, where he is taking a break from his hectic campaign schedule.

Though Chandrashekar Rao may have started a three-day break from his campaigning for BRS and its candidates across the state, it did not slow him down on continuing his focus on the November 30 elections. It was learnt that Chandrasehkar Rao reviewed the progress of the campaign so far with several constituency campaign in-charges during tele-conferences.

It was also learnt that he discussed some weak spots for the party and the possible need for him to campaign a second time. He is also learnt to have discussed the status of campaigns by the Congress and the BJP in some key constituencies and how the BRS is faring in them, taking stock of how things are shaping up in constituencies such as Dubbak, Madhira and Huzurnagar where the BRS is expected to face some stiff competition from opposition parties.