Telangana: Senior BRS leader Tummala Nageswara Rao joins Congress

In a shot in the arm for Congress in Telangana, senior BRS leader and former minister Tummala Nageswara Rao joined the party in the presence of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge here on Saturday.

Kharge welcomed Nageswara Rao into the Congress by offering a Congress 'kanduva' (a scarf or an upper garment worn on the shoulder), party sources said.

State Congress president A Revanth Reddy and other leaders were present on the occasion.

Kharge and other top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, are in Hyderabad to attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday.

Nageswara Rao, an influential leader from Khammam district, had served as a minister during the BRS regime and during the TDP government in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

However, he did not get the BRS ticket to contest the Legislative Assembly polls to be held in a couple of months.

Nageswara Rao's entry into the Congress is expected to help the party, especially in Khammam district.