Even after six months of defection, Jagtial MLA’s loyalty is under question.

Karimnagar: Even six months after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy welcomed Jagtial MLA Sanjay Kumar to the Congress, the controversy over the MLA’s loyalty is yet to end. In fact, now this has become a constant issue of trouble inside and outside the Congress. This happened when after the defection case reached the court, Sanjay Kumar denied that he had joined the Congress, while he continued wearing the Congress scarf and attending all party programs.
On Sunday, Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy questioned Sanjay Kumar while he was speaking at a district review meeting at Karimnagar Collectorate. Kaushik Reddy wanted Sanjay Kumar to clarify which party he was representing in the meeting, leading to a verbal duel between the two. Kaushik Reddy was taken out of the meeting venue by the police, who later filed three cases against him in connection with the incident.
Sanjay Kumar, who was elected on BRS ticket from Jagtial in the 2023 assembly elections, shifted his loyalty to Congress in June 2024, but with defection and disqualification of turncoats becoming an issue, he cited technical reasons. That he is still in Congress. BRS MLA and he did not become a member of the Congress Party.
The issue also created a rift within the Congress, with senior Congress leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy strongly opposing the induction of Sanjay Kumar into the party without his knowledge. In the murder of Jeevan Reddy’s close aide Maru Ganga Reddy at Jabithapur in Jagtial rural mandal on October 22 last year, Jeevan Reddy had accused Sanjay Kumar of being behind the murder. The senior leader had also threatened to resign from his post, but after the intervention of the high command, the party was successful in overcoming this storm.
In a recent incident, Jeevan Reddy walked out of a party meeting in Nizamabad after he realized that his name was missing from the ledger of the meeting, while Sanjay Kumar’s name was there. After other party leaders convinced the furious MLC, he finally agreed and sat for the meeting. He said he later raised the issue with TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Gaur.
Following the Kaushik Reddy incident with Sanjay Kumar on Sunday, Congress leaders from the erstwhile district have again expressed their dissatisfaction over Sanjay Kumar being given prominence in several meetings while he was reluctant to openly declare that he Now a Congressman.