From being almost written off to scripting a turnaround in the recently concluded Assembly elections to leaders making a beeline seeking the party’s nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Congress appears to have seen a reversal of fortunes in Telangana.

Latest in the list of leaders queuing up is Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former deputy CM, Thatikonda Rajaiah, who resigned from the BRS on Saturday and is likely to join the Congress next week. The former four-time MLA from Station Ghanpur is said to be eyeing the Warangal Lok Sabha seat.

Rajaiah, who holds the dubious distinction of being the first minister in Telangana to be sacked, was shunted out in January 2015 by then CM K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) for allegedly mishandling the swine flu cases in the state.

Rajaiah also has an old association with the Congress, having begun his political career with the party. He won as an MLA from Station Ghanpur for the first time as the party’s nominee, but resigned from the House in 2011 in support of the Telangana movement and won the subsequent 2012 bypoll. He was renominated by the BRS (then TRS) in 2014 and 2018 and won both the elections.

Ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, Rajaiah, who is facing allegations of sexual harassment from a woman sarpanch, was overlooked for the Assembly elections by KCR, who nominated Rajaiah’s bete noire Kadiyam Srihari from Station Ghanpur. He was seen as weighing his options since, and had even met Congress leader and current minister C Damodar Raja Narasimha before the polls, sparking off speculations that he was headed to the grand old party.

The other BRS leader seen as exploring the Congress is former director of Public Health and Family Welfare, and KCR’s “blue-eyed boy” G Srinivasa Rao, who hopes to contest from the Khammam Lok Sabha seat. “I have always wanted to serve people. Now, I want to join electoral politics and serve the people in Khammam,” he said, pointing out that he headed the Public Health and Family Welfare Department during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rao had made his political intentions clear when he had touched KCR’s feet and sought his blessings at a public rally.

However, his expectations of being nominated by the BRS in the 2023 Assembly polls had also been belied. Shunted out from the department after the A Revanth Reddy-led Congress government took over the reins of the state, he is learnt to have recently approached the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) and expressed his desire to contest from the Khammam Lok Sabha seat.

Rao will, however, face a tough challenge as Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu’s wife Nandini has thrown her hat in the ring and expressed her wish to contest from the seat.

A former TPCC spokesperson said a host of rival leaders are in touch with the Congress. “However, a decision on their joining and subsequent nomination for the Lok Sabha polls will be taken by the high command at an appropriate time, closer to the election,” he said.

Other leaders who are reportedly seeking Lok Sabha tickets from the Congress for the coming polls include cricketer-turned-politician Mohammed Azharuddin, former MP Renuka Chowdhury, TPCC vice-president Vinod Reddy, veteran party leader and former Rajya Sabha MP V Hanumantha Rao and film producer Bandla Ganesh.