TRS MP Srinivas likely to rejoin Congress

Hyderabad, Dec 17:  Rajya Sabha member from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), D. Srinivas is likely to return to the Congress.

Srinivas has been inactive in the ruling party for over two years after he was accused of indulging in anti-party activities.

Srinivas, who headed the Congress twice in undivided Andhra Pradesh, called on party President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday evening. The meeting lasted for 40 minutes and she was believed to have given the green signal for his return to the party.

Congress sources said the former minister will soon call on party leader Rahul Gandhi and join the party.

Srinivas was one of the top Congress leaders who switched loyalties to the TRS after it formed the first government in the newly-created state in 2014. The Chief Minister and TRS President K. Chandrasekhar Rao rewarded him with the post of special advisor to the government and later made him a Rajya Sabha member in 2016.

Srinivas had led the Congress to victory in 2004 and 2009 Assembly elections in the united Andhra Pradesh. After the defeat in 2014 elections, he joined the TRS.

However, on the eve of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the senior leader from Nizamabad faced allegations of anti-party activities.

KCR's daughter K. Kavitha, who was seeking re-election from Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, and other TRS leaders complained to KCR that Srinivas was working against the party by promoting his son D. Aravind, who had joined the BJP. Kavitha lost the election to Aravind.

Though Srinivas denied the allegations of working against the TRS and tried to meet KCR to clarify his stand, he was denied the appointment and since then, he remained inactive.

Srinivas had met Sonia Gandhi before the 2019 elections and wanted to return to the Congress but this did not happen. With his term as Rajya Sabha member ending in June next year, the senior leader is now eyeing an active role in politics by returning to the Congress.