Former minister Patnam Mahender Reddy scotches rumours of his joining BJP

HYDERABAD: Former minister and Member of the Legislative Council on behalf of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) P Mahender Reddy has flatly denied the news doing the rounds that he is joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speculation is rife in the last two days that Dr Mahender Reddy will be quitting the BRS and joining the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Amit Shah who will be addressing a public meeting at Chevella on April 23.

The BJP has spilled the beans that a former minister, along with a few other leaders, is likely to join the party in the presence of the Home Minister.

Asked if he was joining the BJP, Dr Mahender Reddy told Newstap that there had never been such a move ever. He said: “It is all false information doing the rounds. It is never considered at all. Why will we go? I have no reason to think on those lines. We repose full trust in the leadership of KCR.”

Dr Mahedner Reddy is a nephew of former Home Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh P Indra Reddy. He served as an MLA from Tandur for a long time. He was first elected t o the State Legislative Assembly from Tandur Assembly constituency in 1994 on behalf of the TDP under the legendary N T Rama Rao. Later, he joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2014 before the elections and won from Tandur on TRS ticket.

He served as the Transport Minister of the State between 2014 and 2018. After he lost to Pilot Rohit Reddy in 2018 elections, he was elected to the Legislative Council in Telangana in 2019 on TRS ticket.

Ever since Rohit Reddy crossed over to the TRS, the two leaders remained at loggerheads in the Tandur Assembly constituency.

Mahender Reddy’s wife Sunitha Reddy is the chairperson of Ranga Reddy zilla parishad and is serving for a second term. His brother Narender Reddy was an MLC in Ranga Reddy district and later he was elected to t he Assembly in 2018 upon defeating Congress nominee A Revanth Reddy from Kodangal Assembly seat.

Sources close to Mahender Reddy said that his career was riveted to the BRS (erstwhile TRS) as his extended family too owes allegiance to the BRS. He is closely associated with Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy and her son Karthik Reddy.

Mahender Reddy used to have a running feud with former Chevella MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy who was with the TRS at that time. The internal bickering within the party between the two leaders always remained a proverbial thorn in the flesh for the party leadership. Serious efforts to placate both sides did not bear fruit.

Konda Vishweshwar Reddy pitted his loyalist Pilot Rohit Reddy (on behalf of the Congress) to fight Dr Mahender Reddy from Tandur. After Konda Vishweshwar Reddy joined the BJP, Rohit Reddy crossed over to the TRS. Ever since, the rift between Rohit Reddy and Dr Mahender Reddy began to widen.

With a view to honouring the seniority of Dr Mahender Reddy, BRS supremo KCR got him elected as an MLC.