Alampur MLA Abraham quits BRS, joins Congress

Hyderabad: In a setback to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ahead of the Assembly polls on November 30, the party's Alampur MLA V.M. Abraham tendered his resignation from the party on Friday and joined the Congress in the presence of TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy.

Abraham was one of the 115 candidates selected by BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar for the Assembly polls on August 21. Following this, Abraham began his campaign in his constituency in earnest. But, on November 7, the BRS dropped him as the candidate at the last minute and replaced him with K. Vijayudu.

The BRS leadership reportedly changed its candidate in Alampur due to demand from a section of party leaders led by MLC Challa Venkatrami Reddy. Angered by the last-minute change, Abraham has been staying away from party activities and decided to join the Congress along with his supporters.

On Friday, after joining the Congress, Abraham said he would work for the victory of the party’s Alampur candidate S.A. Sampath Kumar, his rival in the 2018 elections.

Abraham was elected from Alampur on a BRS ticket in 2018, defeating Sampath Kumar by over 44,000 votes. In the 2014 election, Abraham had contested on a TD ticket but lost to Sampath Kumar. Abraham had later switched loyalties to the TRS (now BRS).