In setback to BRS, party's Lok Sabha member Venkatesh Netha joins Congress

Hyderabad, Feb 6 (PTI) In a setback to opposition BRS in Telangana, the party's Lok Sabha member from Peddapalle (SC) B Venkatesh Netha joined the Congress on Tuesday.

Venkatesh Netha joined the grand old party in Delhi in the presence of AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and other leaders, party sources said here.

After joining the party, Venkatesh Netha along with Revanth Reddy and other leaders paid a courtesy visit to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, they said.

Venkatesh Netha, a first-time MP, had served in the state excise department before taking the political plunge in 2018. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections on a Congress ticket.

However, he later joined BRS (then TRS) and got elected to the Lok Sabha from Peddapalle (SC) constituency in 2019.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who is also president of Congress in Telangana, is currently on a visit to Delhi.

He met Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday and urged her to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls from Telangana.

The state Congress had earlier passed a resolution requesting Sonia Gandhi to contest from the state. PTI