D. Srinivas to return to Congress

Date and venue not confirmed yet; senior leaders question his utility

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) member of Rajya Sabha D. Srinivas will join the Congress soon but the date and venue are not yet confirmed.

Though party sources said he is likely to join in New Delhi on January 24 in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, given his good relations with her, family sources revealed that the date and venue may change. “It doesn’t matter whether he joins in Hyderabad or New Delhi but his joining is confirmed,” a source close to the family said.

The former Congress chief in combined Andhra Pradesh switched loyalties to the TRS in July 2015 after the formation of separate Telangana and was immediately nominated to the Rajya Sabha by TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao. He is returning to his old party just a few months before he is set to complete his term.

Negative impact

Mr. Srinivas’s relations with KCR were negatively impacted ever since his son Dharmapuri Aravind defeated Kalvakuntla Kavita in Nizamabad in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Prior to that, Ms. Kavitha took the lead in adopting a resolution by all the nine TRS MLAs of Nizamabad seeking disciplinary action against him for his anti-party activities. KCR suspected his active role behind Kavita’s loss. But, the action did not come and neither did Mr. Srinivas resign from his post nor the party, as was expected. He has been staying away from party activities for the last three years, barring a lone meeting of the Rajya Sabha group of TRS in Parliament House.

It was rumoured and acknowledged by several Congressmen that KCR welcomed Mr. Srinivas into the party to ensure the political future of his daughter in Nizamabad. If a tall leader with a considerable following in Nizamabad district joins TRS, KCR thought, it would hit the Congress morale and leave the political space open for Kavita for a long time to come.

With Kavita’s loss and Congress candidate Madhu Yaskhi, a sitting MP, pushed to the third place, it was strongly believed that Mr. Srinivas put all his efforts behind his son and BJP candidate, Dharmapuri Aravind, leaving the Congress helpless.

Precisely, for this reason, senior Congress leaders are opposing his entry arguing that neither he has the earlier clout nor the party cadre are enthused. In fact, some senior leaders have shot off letters to the party high command opposing his re-entry. “What is the guarantee that he will not back his son Aravind, who will be the BJP candidate again, in the next elections,” asks a senior leader.

Mr. Yaskhi, a former Nizamabad MP, however, said that the party high command has taken a decision and he would welcome it while clarifying that he has not written any letter opposing the decision.

Another senior leader, seeking anonymity, said they have informed the party leadership in New Delhi that even if he is admitted into the party, Mr. Srinivas should not have any role in ticket selection in combined Nizamabad district in the next elections. “He is joining the Congress to give political life to his elder son Dharmapuri Sanjay, a former Mayor of Nizamabad, who is lying low ever since his father was sidelined in the TRS.”