Telangana Rashtra Samithi's richest member, K Vishweswar Reddy quit the party on Wednesday and is now rumoured to join Congress soon.
Reddy, whose assets have been declared at Rs 500 crore wrote in a three-page letter criticising the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led government. He also cited that his departure was due to ideological reasons.
Another reason why Reddy quit was that he felt he was not given importance in the party.
This is a huge setback for the TRS which is contesting in the Telangana Assembly elections on December 7.
NDTV reports that Reddy will formally join the Congress in the presence of Sonia Gandhi when she visits Hyderabad later this month.
Reddy, who is an MP from Chevalla in the Ranga Reddy district, joined TRS in 2013. His grandfather, Venkata Ranga Reddy was the deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1959 to 1962.
Amping up the rivalry between Telangana's ruling party and Congress, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Wednesday that the state would go blind if Congress was voted to power.
He made these comments while addressing a rally at Siddipet district.
"Telangana state ranked number one in all the sectors. In the next two years, train will come to Siddipet. The TRS has set up a Medical College in Siddipet district. It has announced that 24-hour electricity would be given at free of cost to the farmers. But if the Congress comes in power, the state will become blind," he said, reports ANI.
