BRS Rajendranagar MLA T. Prakash Goud met Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at his residence in Jubilee Hills on Sunday. CM's adviser Vem Narender Reddy, a close aide of Revanth Reddy, was present and presented Goud a Congress kanduva. The three held discussions behind closed doors for over half an hour.
On January 18, Goud had met BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar. Goud's second meeting with Congress leaders within 10 days sparked speculation that he may defect from the BRS to the Congress.
A visual of Vem Narender Reddy placing Congress khanduva around Goud's shoulders further fuelled speculation on this front.
After this visual went viral on social media platforms, Goud issued a clarification stating that he made a courtesy call on Revanth Reddy to seek funds for the development of his constituency and there was no political significance attached to this meeting.
Goud stated that they did not discuss politics during the meeting, only the development of his constituency.
Goud said that he would continue in the BRS and had no plan to quit the party and join the Congress.
On January 23, four BRS MLAs from combined Medak district had met Revanth Reddy at his residence, which created a flutter in political circles that they could be considering defection.
The four MLAs later clarified that they had met Revanth Reddy only to discuss protocol violation issues, besides seeking funds for development of constituencies.