A spate of “courtesy visits” by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs with Telangana CM Revanth Reddy over the past week has sparked a buzz in the state about the Congress attempting to poach the Opposition party’s MLAs.

The latest meeting came on Sunday when Rajendranagar MLA Prakash Goud met the CM. His photo sporting the Congress’s khanduva (scarf) gave a boost to the speculation first triggered on January 23 when MLAs Sunita Lakshma Reddy (Narsapur), K Prabhakar Reddy (Dubbak), G Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and Manik Rao (Zaheerabad), all from the erstwhile Medak district, met Revanth.

BRS MLA Prakash Goud (Rajendra Nagar) met with Chief Minister @revanth_anumula Garu at his residence. pic.twitter.com/tADeD42uyc

— Sama Ram Mohan Reddy (@RamMohanINC) January 28, 2024

The MLAs have categorically denied any such move and said they met the CM to discuss issues related to their constituencies. “It is our right to inform the Chief Minister about the problems and development of the constituencies. We have no intention of changing parties. We did not negotiate with anyone. Our meeting with the CM was to explain the problems of Medak district. Some people are trying to create negative propaganda but our senior leaders have complete confidence in us. We will be with KCR till our last breath,” said Prabhakar Reddy.

The Dubbak MLA, who defeated the BJP’s Raghunandan Rao in the recent Assembly elections, led the delegation of four MLAs and submitted a memorandum regarding protocol discrepancies in his constituency. The other three legislators, sources said, did not submit any memoranda to the CM.

Congress insiders said Prabhakar Reddy had called upon the CM as he was keen on contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Medak and his chances of getting the BRS ticket were slim as party chief and former CM K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, was also eyeing the seat. In the run-up to the Assembly polls, Prabhakar Reddy who was then the Medak MP was stabbed by a man during campaigning, eliciting a strong response from Revanth who condemned the attack and demanded a fair inquiry.

“They have expressed interest in joining (the Congress) but right now we are not keen. We will wait and watch and the high command will take a decision closer to the Lok Sabha elections,” said a former Telangana Congress spokesperson. Some Congress insiders have dubbed the attempt to bring over BRS MLAs “Operation Akarsh”.

The meetings assume significance as the Congress wants to improve its position in the state’s urban areas and check both the BRS and the BJP. In last year’s Assembly elections, the Congress swept to power winning 64 of the 119 seats. While the party did exceedingly well in the rural areas, the BRS won most of its 39 seats from the Hyderabad and Rangareddy regions.

The Congress also has its eyes on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls scheduled for 2025. In the last civic polls in 2020, the BJP put up an impressive performance in the civic elections and emerged as the second-largest party by winning 48 of the 150 wards. The BJP is seen as having an influence in urban pockets of the state such as Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Mahbubnagar, and parts of Adilabad. The party, despite seeming to have lost steam in the run-up to the Assembly polls, won eight seats, a majority of which are in semi-urban or urban areas.

A Congress leader said now that the party was in power it wanted to consolidate its base among urban voters and would leave no stone unturned to achieve it. “We have done exceedingly well in rural areas. Now that the government has cancelled the extension of 54 corporation chairpersons, we want to make our presence felt in urban areas and make up lost ground,” he said.

Apart from Hyderabad and surrounding areas, the Congress’s attempts to secure urban voters have been on display in other parts of the state too. Earlier this month, Nalgonda civic chief M Saidi Reddy of the BRS lost the no-trust motion after a handful of councillors switched over to the Congress.

Meanwhile, the BRS is wary of these “courtesy visits” of its MLAs. A party insider seen as close to former minister and KCR’s son K T Rama Rao said these visits were purely about the issues of the MLAs’ constituencies. “However, we are aware that the Congress, which did not fare well in the urban belt, especially in and around Hyderabad, is looking to strengthen its base in these areas ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. We are confident that we will win the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in the state,” he said.

After the 2018 Assembly polls, 12 of the 19 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BRS that was then the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.