BRS working president and Telangana minister K T Rama Rao today met ex-Congress leader and former TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah at his residence and invited him to join the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Lakshmaiah resigned from the Congress on Friday in protest against the "humiliation" being meted out to seniors and BC leaders in the party in the selection of candidates for the Assembly elections.
Speaking to the media, KTR said that he had called on Lakshmaiah upon the direction of BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and had asked the veteran leader to join the ruling party.
"Ponnala Lakshmaiah has expressed his desire to join the BRS, and will meet Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday to discuss his plans," KTR said.
Claiming that Lakshmaiah had offered a lot of service to the Congress but had been humiliated by TPCC president Revanth Reddy, KTR alleged that there was no respect for senior leaders in the Congress, especially those belonging to the Backward Classes.
KTR also found fault with TPCC president Revanth Reddy's language when he spoke about Lakshmaiah's resignation, stating while it was up to the party to decide on an MLA ticket for a senior leader, it was downright wrong to insult that leader.
KTR was accompanied by MLAs Danam Nagender and Saidireddy, BRS leader Dasoju Sravan and others to Lakshmaiah's house.
filed in:Telangana, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, BRS, Party Defections, Telangana Congress, K T Rama Rao