Overview

• On August 10 in Hyderabad, former BRS MLA Guvvala Balaraju was formally inducted into the BJP by state president N. Ramchander Rao in a programme attended by MP K. Laxman and MLC Anji Reddy.
• Balaraju, who represented the Scheduled Castes–reserved Achampet constituency in 2014 and 2018 before losing to Congress’s Chikkudu Vamshi Krishna in 2023, resigned from BRS on August 2.
• He was among four BRS MLAs named in a 2022 horse-trading case that accused BJP of poaching legislators ahead of a Mungode by-election.
• Ramchander Rao framed Balaraju’s switch as recognition of BJP’s performance under the Modi government and its status as the main opposition in Telangana.
• The BJP increased its vote share from 13.09 percent in the 2023 assembly polls to over 36 percent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, doubling its seats to eight while BRS failed to secure any.