A day after joining the Indian National Congress (INC), senior leader Dharmapuri Srinivas, who is the father of BJP MP Dharmapuri Arvind, seems to have changed his mind. On Sunday, March 26, the Congress party in Telangana had announced that Srinivas had rejoined the party, along with his other son, D Sanjay. However, on Monday, Srinivas refuted the news, stating that he had merely visited the party office to offer his blessings to his son Sanjay. Srinivas had switched loyalties to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) after it formed the first government in the newly carved out Telangana state in 2014, but has stayed away from active politics since 2019.
In a letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Srinivas said that he wished to stay away from active politics due to health issues, and did not want to be dragged into any ‘controversies’. “If you believe that I have rejoined Congress, please consider this to be my resignation letter and accept it,” Srinivas said.
Srinivas claimed that he hadn’t rejoined Congress on Sunday, but had visited Gandhi Bhavan, the state headquarters of Congress party, to give his blessings as his son Sanjay joined the party. ‘A [party] scarf was wrapped around me, and it was publicised that I have rejoined Congress. I will always be a Congress man, but due to my age and health condition, I have decided to stay away from active politics,” Srinivas said. He added that it was not fair to link his son Sanjay’s prospects of receiving a party ticket in the upcoming Assembly elections to his membership of the party. “As we all know, ticket allotments happen based on party procedures, traditions and the candidates’ popularity,” Srinivas said in his letter.
Srinivas's return to the Congress was expected to change political equations in Nizamabad, the constituency where his son Arvind had defeated Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Srinivas had headed the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) for two terms, before the formation of Telangana in 2014. He also served as a minister in the YS Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet. After he joined the BRS in 2014, CM KCR had rewarded him with the post of special advisor to the state government and later made him Rajya Sabha member in 2016.
However, on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the senior leader from Nizamabad faced allegations of anti-party activities. KCR's daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who was seeking re-election from Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, and other BRS leaders had complained to KCR that Srinivas was working against the party by promoting his son Dharmapuri Arvind, who had joined the BJP. Kavitha lost the election to Arvind.
Though Srinivas denied the allegations of working against the BRS and tried to meet KCR to clarify his stand, he was denied the opportunity and has since remained politically inactive. In December 2021, Srinivas met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. She was believed to have given the green signal for his return to the party.
With IANS inputs