Industrialist-turned-Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy is all set to call it quits to the party and defect to the Bharatiya Janata Party soon.
According to the BJP sources, Ponguleti is going to meet senior BJP leader and Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on January 18 and then formally resign from the BRS to join the saffron party.
He might also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 19, when the latter comes to Hyderabad to inaugurate the Vande Bharat bullet train. The former MP is planning to take out a huge rally in Khammam later.
He has already been holding a series of meetings with his followers and discussing his future course of action.
He has been sulking for quite some time in the BRS, as the party has completely shut the doors on him.
Interestingly, Ponguleti’s meeting with Shah is going to happen on the same day when BRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will be holding a huge public meeting at Khammam to announce the launch of his national party.
KCR had invited several top friendly opposition leaders including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and others for the Khammam meeting.
But there was no invitation for Ponguleti, who actually should have been entrusted with the task of coordinating the arrangements for public meeting.
The BRS leadership has taken serious view of Ponguleti’s latest comments that he had been meted out injustice in the party. The government reduced the security cover to him and removed the escort to his vehicle.
Sources said soon after joining the BJP formally, Ponguleti is planning to hold a huge public rally at Khammam. He is presently working out the date and time for the meeting, they added.
