The sitting MLA of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), V.M. Abraham, has officially joined the Congress party in the presence of TPCC president, A. Revanth Reddy.
Mr. Abraham, who represents the Alampur constituency in the Jogulamba Gadwal district, was not given a ticket by the BRS. Despite his name being announced in the first list, it was later withdrawn to make way for Vijayudu, reportedly at the insistence of BRS MLC Challa Venkatrami Reddy.
Feeling insulted by the party’s decision, Mr. Abraham began his campaign after initially being cleared as a candidate. His switch to the Congress party just days before the Assembly elections is viewed as a significant blow to the ruling party.
Mr. Abraham was previously elected from Alampur on a BRS ticket in 2018, defeating the then sitting MLA Sampath Kumar of Congress by over 44,000 votes. Interestingly, Sampath is now the candidate of the Congress party. In the 2014 elections, Mr. Abraham ran on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket but was defeated by Sampath Kumar. He later joined the TRS (now BRS).