In a major political development, Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, the last Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, joined back the Congress in the presence of party President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Friday.
Reddy had resigned from the party in 2014 in protest against the bifurcation of the state. After parting ways with the Congress, Reddy floated his own party Jai Samaikyandhra Party and contested elections unsuccessfully.
He rejoined the party in the presence of his followers and senior leaders like Raghuveera Reddy, the head of the Congress unit in the state, and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
With the state assembly and Lok Sabha elections due next year, the Congress leadership started negotiations with Mr Reddy over the past few months, seeking his to return to the parent organisation.
Chandy was recently made in-charge of the party in Andhra Pradesh and met with Kiran at his Hyderabad residence on July 1 and spent close to an hour holding talks with him.
The former Chief Minister, a bete noire of TDP supremo and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is said to be keen on becoming an AICC General Secretary and has conveyed this to senior party leaders, who were in touch with him in recent days, the sources said.
Kiran Kumar Reddy decided to exile himself from politics after the state was bifurcated against his will. As the Congress was determined to grant statehood to Telangana by carving it out of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Kiran Kumar quit the party and launched his own party—Jai Samaikyandhra Party (JSP) in 2014, just months before the elections. However, his decision to launch the party and contest the elections turned out to be a major debacle, as none of his party members could win a seat.
After the failed attempt, the senior leader went into a self-imposed political exile.
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