BRS leader and Telangana statehood activist Jitta Balakrishna Reddy passed away today at the age of 52.
He was suffering from a brain infection and was undergoing treatment at Yashoda Hospital in Secunderabad for some time now. He breathed his last on Friday morning as his condition worsened.
His body was shifted to Bhuvanagiri by his family members. The last rites of Reddy will be performed at his farmhouse on Magampally Road on the outskirts of the town.
Reddy was known as a separate Telangana activist. After the formation of the BRS, he served as the State president of the party's affiliated youth wing. However, he did not get a ticket during the 2009 Assembly elections and walked out of the party, and contested as an independent and lost the elections. He also contested the 2014 and 2018 elections but lost.
In 2009 Reddy joined the Congress in the presence of the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. After the sudden death of YSR, he left the Congress. He joined the YSRCP later, but when Jagan adopted an anti-Telangana policy in the Lok Sabha, he came out of the party, formed his own Yuva Telangana Party and took up programs. He later contested the MLC elections held for the Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam graduates constituency on behalf of his party.
The party was merged with the BJP in the presence of senior BJP leaders in Delhi later. Jitta was however suspended from the BJP after the change of its president in the State. He joined the Congress again in the presence of Bhuvanagiri MP Komatireddy Venkatreddy. However, a month later, on October 20 of 2023, he rejoined the BRS.