Defectors' list from Cong growing longer

HYDERABAD: 'Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram' phenomenon is in full swing in the state with general elections round the corner. Former Union minister Daggubati Purandeswari bid adieu to the Congress and joined the BJP whereas former minister Galla Aruna Kumari along with her son Galla Jayadev joined TDP.

Purandeswari called on BJP top leader LK Advani in Delhi and announced her decision to join the saffron party. The BJP leadership is understood to have decided to appoint NT Rama Rao's daughter along with BJP senior M Venkaiah Naidu as the party incharges for poll campaign in Seemandhra.

Interestingly, Purandeswari's husband and Congress MLA D Venkateswara Rao called it a day in politics. Addressing his supporters in his native Karamchedu village in Prakasam district, the senior politico said he was retiring from politics.

With this, Rao joined the club of Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal and former minister Vatti Vasant Kumar, who had already taken political sanyas in the wake of bifurcation of the state.

Meanwhile, former minister Galla Aruna Kumari and her son and MD of Amara Raja Batteries, Galla Jayadev, are likely to join the TDP on Saturday in the presence of party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

Congress MLAs - Kottapalli Subbarayudu (Narsapuram), Audimulapu Suresh (Yerragondapalem) and Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao (Tanuku) met YSRC boss YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during his visit to Guntur district on Friday. They are understood to have expressed their desire to join the YSRC.

Kottapalli Subbarayudu was a minister during Chandrababu Naidu's regime. Later, he joined the erstwhile Praja Rajyam, floated by K Chiranjeevi. After the party's merger with the Congress, he won from Narsapuram seat during bypolls.

Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao is considered to be a close aide of the PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana. Yerragondapalem MLA Audimulapu Suresh's name has been doing rounds in the likely defectors from the Congress to the YSRC ever since Jagan floated the party.

A few other Congress MLAs G Kuthuhalamma (Gangadhara Nellore), Korla Bharathi (Tekkali), Pamula Rajeswari Devi (P Gannavaram) and Gandluru Veerashiva Reddy (Kamalapuram) met former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Friday.

Interestingly, of these four leaders, Korla Bharathi and G Veerashiva Reddy expressed desire to join the soon-to-be formed party by Kiran Reddy whereas Kuthuhalamma, who belongs to Kiran's native Chittoor district, said she wanted to continue in the Congress only.