T Jayaprakash 'Jagga' Reddy, the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and the MLA representing Sangareddy, seems ready to part ways with the party. Speculation is rife that he will align himself with the BRS by the end of August, although he is yet to make any official statements confirming this move. Two Congress sources and a BRS source confirmed that the move is most likely to happen. The worry for the Congress now is whether more leaders will leave following Jagga Reddy.
Alongside former ministers Damodar Rajanarsimha and J Geetha Reddy, Jagga Reddy stands as a notable Congress leader in the Sangareddy district. Jagga Reddy initially entered the realm of politics as a municipal councillor for the BJP in Sangareddy. In 2004, he became an MLA for the first time, contesting as a candidate from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was then known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party. After a fall out with TRS, he ventured into the Congress party, emerging victorious in the elections of 2009 and once more in 2018.
Jagga has also been absent from most of the party activities but attended a recent meeting of the political affairs committee held at Gandhi Bhavan. Reportedly, Jagga has been upset ever since Revanth Reddy as TPCC president in June 2021. On several occasions, Jagga Reddy openly criticised Revanth Reddy for sidelining senior party members in the decision-making process, opting instead for unilateral decision-making.
There is discontent among second-rung leaders in Telangana Congress that the party leadership has not taken complaints against Revanth Reddy seriously. A couple of months ago, Jagga Reddy had called Revanth’s followers stupid, irked by them trolling him. “The nuisance by Revanth Reddy’s supporters must be controlled, Six of us (MLAs), should we sit in Assembly and fight on people’s issues or sit and comment on these stupid Revanth followers and their posts?” he asked.
There is speculation that Jagga Reddy is not the only one who may potentially shift. Three other prominent names are doing the rounds- MLA Sridhar Babu, former TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy, and former MLA K Jana Reddy. However, multiple sources within the Telangana Congress, whom TNM reached out to, dismissed these claims as mere rumours propagated by the BRS. They firmly asserted that these leaders have no intention of leaving the Congress. It is to be noted that both Jagga Reddy and Sridhar Babu are among the six remaining Congress MLAs after 12 had defected to the BRS in 2019.
“Uttam Kumar Reddy is the former president of Telangana Congress. In his case, this kind of rumour has been going on for two years now, we do not believe that he has anything to gain by joining the BRS,” a source speaking to TNM said. Sources have also said that BJP is also in talks with Uttam Kumar Reddy.