Nizamabad: Congress MLA J. Surender of Yellareddy Assembly constituency in undivided Nizamabad district has been facing a difficult situation. His counterparts from other districts in Telangana state have made a beeline to join the ruling TRS party. But, Surender has decided to continue in the grand old party, sources close to him said on Saturday.
There has been a campaign among political circles that Yellareddy MLA J. Surender may join the TRS party during Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Nizamabad on March 19.
Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha had neither denied nor agreed to say anything about Surender’s stand, during a media interaction in Nizamabad. Interestingly, Surender began his political career with the TRS since its inception in 2001. Reportedly, he is a staunch follower of TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and helped the new party with different sources.
TRS high command was unable to give an MLA ticket to Surender in 2004 Assembly elections. Then, TRS Medak MP Ale Narendra encouraged Secunderabad Cantonment Board employee turned politician E. Ravinder Reddy in the 2004 elections as an MLA candidate.
At that time, Surender contested as a rebel candidate and later joined the Telugu Desam.
After joining the Congress, Surender contested as MLA candidate from Yellareddy in 2014 and 2018 elections respectively. During a strong TRS wave, he was elected as Yellareddy MLA on Congress ticket. Surprisingly, people of Yellareddy Assembly constituency supported him not only with votes, they also arranged donations for him.
When contacted by this newspaper, Mr Surender said that he will not be joining the TRS. “I have a strong political vision and there is no need to join the ruling party,” he said. Offering funds and development are just ‘drama’ played by few defected legislators, he opined.
“I am comfortable in the Congress and will work as per the aspirations of people of Yellareddy Assembly constituency and the Congress high command in future,” he explained.
