Former Lok Sabha member from Bhongir assembly constituency and popular bariatric surgeon Dr Bura Narsaiah Goud on Saturday resigned from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. He is expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party later in the day.
It is an open secret that Narsaiah Goud has been sulking for a quite long time, as he was being suppressed by state power minister G Jagadish Reddy, who has been dominating the Nalgonda politics. Yet, he remained with the TRS all these days, hoping that he would get better days.
But when he was snubbed by party president K Chandrasekhar Rao on the occasion of by-election to Munugode assembly seat, it was expected that he won’t continue in the party for a long time.
Narsaiah Goud was expecting the party ticket from Munugode and he was given the promise by TRS working president K T Rama Rao to that effect. But Jagadish Reddy played the behind the screen role to deny him the ticket and got it allotted to former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy.
A few days ago, Narsaiah Goud reportedly had a talk with BJP state president Bandi Sanjay and agreed to join the party on certain conditions. On Friday, he met party in-charge of Telangana Tarun Chugh in Delhi, which confirmed his entry into the saffron party.
In his resignation letter to KCR, Narsaiah Goud said ever since he had lost the Bhongir assembly elections in 2019, the party leadership had been ignoring him and was subjecting him to humiliation.
“Whenever I took up the issues of the BCs and SCs, KCR snubbed me,” he said.
He said many of the schemes introduced by the KCR government was not reaching the real beneficiaries and when he wanted to bring them to the notice of the chief minister, he was not given an audience.
“I was not consulted with regard to Munugode by-poll, though it falls in his Bhongir parliamentary constituency. This was an ultimate insult to me. I realised that I have no say in the party and hence, I am quitting,” he said.
Interestingly, Congress MP from Bhongir Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who defeated Narsaiah Goud in the last elections, has been indirectly supporting his brother Rajagopal Reddy, who is contesting the Munugode by-election on BJP ticket.
Komatireddy, who is presently keeping away from the Congress campaign, is hoping to switch over to the BJP, if his brother wins the by-poll. Even Rajagopal has been hinting at his elder brother joining the BJP after the by-poll.
But the entry of Narsaiah Goud into the BJP is learnt to have upset Komairedddy plans. Apparently, the BJP leadership has promised the party ticket from Bhongir LS seat to Narsaiah Goud. If that happens, Komatireddy loses his importance.
So, it will be interesting to see what Komatireddy will do now.