The sudden meeting of former Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP from Khammam Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy with YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday raised curiosity in the political circles.
Srinivas Reddy spent for about 15-20 minutes with Jagan at the latter’s Tadepalli residence in Amaravati and what transpired between them has been left to speculations in the media.
According to these speculations, Srinivas Reddy wants to return to the YSR Congress party and has sought Rajya Sabha nomination from the party in the coming elections.
He has reportedly proposed to shift his base from Khammam to Andhra Pradesh forever, as he is not able to adjust with the TRS.
There is also a talk that Srinivas Reddy is learnt to have discussed the issue of joining the YSR Telangana Party floated by Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila.
He reportedly asked the AP chief minister’s advice in that regard. If he contests the next Lok Sabha elections from Khammam on Sharmila party’s ticket, he required the support of Jagan.
Srinivas Reddy had in fact been with the YSRC since the beginning and won the Khammam Lok Sabha elections from that party in 2014.
However, he was compelled to join the TRS later, as YSRC quietly withdrew from Telangana politics and confined itself to Andhra Pradesh.
Though he was active in the TRS and played a big role in developing the TRS in Khammam, he was somehow ignored in the party.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Srinivas Reddy was denied the TRS ticket, which was given to his arch rival Nama Nageshwar Rao who defected from the TDP to the TRS.
Since then, he has been keeping himself inactive in the TRS. Now, he is looking for an alternative political platform.
He knows that even if he joins Sharmila’s party, he won’t be able to win the seat unless Jagan extends support to him. That is why, he is trying for a Rajya Sabha ticket from AP.