Please come back to us: Telangana Deputy CM's appeal to ex-Congress leaders

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka appealed to former Congress leaders to return to the party. His remarks came amid a long history of Congress departures spawning separate political outfits.Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka speaking at the India Today Conclave South 2026 in Kochi on Wednesday.New Delhi/Kochi,Sep 30, 2026 12:25 ISTTelangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Wednesday appealed to former Congress leaders who quit the party to return, saying they should come back and help strengthen the country by advancing the party’s ideology.Speaking at the India Today Conclave South 2026, Bhatti said he would be “the happiest person” if former Congress leaders returned to the party, while specifically referring to his association with former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.“I have worked with Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy. I have not worked with Jagan Mohan Reddy. But definitely, as a Congressman, I would be the happiest person if all the old Congress leaders came back and joined the party. I appeal to all those who have left the party, not only in Andhra Pradesh but throughout the country, to please come and join the Congress,” Bhatti said.Bhatti’s appeal comes against the backdrop of several prominent Congress leaders leaving the party over the years and going on to form or lead separate political parties. Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left the Congress and founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998. The TMC, which is battling an internal split and divided into two factions, has emerged as a major political force in West Bengal.In 1999, Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar broke away from the Congress after differences with the party leadership and went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The NCP split in 2023 after Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the Mahayuti government led by the BJP and Shiv Sena. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, whom Bhatti referred to in his remarks, left the Congress after the death of his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy in 2009. He subsequently founded the YSR Congress Party in 2011 and went on to become the Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.- Ends