14 turncoat MLAs bite the dust in polls

HYDERABAD: Most turncoat MLAs - 12 from Congress and two from TDP - who quit their parent parties and joined BRS post the 2018 polls, lost the 2023 election with people rejecting them for betraying their mandate given in the last elections.

Congress MLAs who had defected to BRS and lost the 2023 polls include Rega Kantha Rao from Pinapaka, Beeram Harshavardhan Reddy from Kollapur, K Upender Reddy from Palair, Vanama Venkateshwara Rao from Kothagudem, Pilot Rohith Reddy from Tandur, J Surender from Yellareddy.

The Congress won back all these seats in the just-concluded Telangana assembly election. Even TDP MLAs who shifted their loyalties to BRS too lost the 2023 election.

Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy had appealed to the people of these constituencies, during his campaign, to teach a befitting lesson to the defectors, who had cheated them. "They won the election in 2018 on Congress ticket. You gave your votes to them as they were Congress candidates but they betrayed you and went to BRS. Inflict a humiliating defeat on them in the 2023 polls," Revanth had said.

However, some of the defectors, including D Sudheer Reddy from LB Nagar and education minister Sabitha Indra Reddy from Maheshwaram, managed to win.


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