Former BRS MLA resigns, cites merger plan of BRS with BJP as reason

Hyderabad: In a major setback to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), former Achampet MLA Guvvala Balaraju has tendered his resignation to the pink party on Saturday, August 2.

His resignation got exposed on Monday, August 4, after a phone conversation between him and one of his followers got leaked and went viral.

In the call, Balaraju could be heard telling his follower that he took the decision, as BRS was either going to merge or tie-up with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“When they are doing it, it is better for me to join that party before they do. What importance will I have in the party? You know I have always fought against BJP,” he could be heard telling his follower.

One of the reasons for his decision, in his own words, was the elevation of RS Praveen in the ranks of BRS in Achampet assembly constituency, as a possible candidate from that constituency in the future.

However, in an interview with one of the TV channels, he denied any plans to join BJP, as he was going to discuss with his followers before taking the next course of action in a couple of days.

“I only answered the caller on the sarcastic line of his questioning. Unless I have issued some official press statement, how can it be taken seriously,” he asked.

Disclosing that he has already sent his resignation letter to BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) on August 2, he said he now has political ambitions for a bigger role in the national politics.

It can be mentioned that Balaraju has represented BRS as Achampet MLA in 2014 and 2018, and has been a staunch loyalist of KCR. He lost to Congress’ Ch Vamshi Krishna in the 2023 assembly elections, and has been mostly dormant since then.

Balaraju was the one who had thwarted the alleged BJP’s attempt to poach three TRS (now BRS) MLAs, the then Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, Kollapur MLA Beerum Harshavardhan Reddy, and Pinapaka MLA Rega Kantha Rao, at a farmhouse belonging to Rohit Reddy at Moinabad on the night of October 26.

Being a complainant in that case, Balaraju was tasked with observing the movements of the three MLAs by acting as a covert, and informing the developments to KCR, which Balaraju executed efficiently.

The alleged poaching attempt by Simhayaji Swami, Nanda Kumar and Ramachandra Bharathi, at the behest of BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, was monitored by the higher-ups in the police department.

A trap was laid to catch them in the act, and Balaraju had played a key role in thwarting that attempt. A special investigation team was investigating the case, which is currently in the ACB special court.

All those four sitting BRS MLAs involved in that case lost the 2023 assembly elections.