Former party chief Rahul Gandhi has firmly stated that the Telangana Congress will not form an alliance with the Bharath Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana due to its affiliation with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sources revealed on Wednesday.
In order to discuss the state's strategy for the upcoming elections later this year, the Congress convened a meeting with its Telangana leaders on Tuesday.
The meeting, chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, was attended by Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, Telangana state in-charge Manikrao Thakare, state unit chief A. Revanth Reddy, former MP Renuka Chowdhury, and other prominent figures.
According to party sources, Rahul Gandhi expressed his clear stance during the meeting at the party headquarters, affirming that the Congress would not form any alliance with the BRS in the state.
Furthermore, Rahul Gandhi emphasized that the notion of a BRS alliance was unfathomable, given its alignment as the BJP's secondary team.
The party source highlighted that Rahul Gandhi underscored the Congress's approach for the Assembly polls, which would emphasize the collaboration between the BRS and BJP in the state.
It is worth noting that earlier this year, the Congress abstained from participating in a round table meeting organized by BRS leader K. Kavitha in the national capital, regarding the Women's Reservation Bill.
While the BRS has been absent from several Centre meetings over the past year and a half, it did attend the all-party meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Manipur, held on June 24.
In a separate development, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's son and state minister K.T. Rama Rao recently visited the national capital, where he met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other ministers during his two-day visit.
The Congress headquarters meeting took place a day after at least 35 BRS leaders, including former minister Jupally Krishna Rao and former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, joined the Congress party after meeting with Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.
Subsequently, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a public meeting in Khammam on July 2, as confirmed by party officials.
(With inputs from IANS)
