Hyderabad, Jul 12 (IANS): Another MLA of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has decided to join the ruling Congress in Telangana.

Prakash Goud, the MLA from Rajendranagar constituency in Greater Hyderabad, on Friday announced his decision to join the Congress after a visit to Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh.

He will be the eighth BRS MLA to switch loyalties since Congress came to power in the state in December 2023.

Goud, along with fellow BRS MLA Arekapudi Gandhi, had met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his visit to Hyderabad last meeting. As Naidu is planning to revive TDP in Telangana, this meeting had sparked speculations that they will defect to TDP. However, both the MLAs denied any such plans.

Goud on Friday said Chandrababu Naidu was his political guru and he was happy that Naidu has become Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister once again.

Goud had called on Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy before Lok Sabha elections amid reports that he was planning to join Congress. However, his joining was delayed due to some reasons.

Goud was elected from the Rajendranagar constituency on a TDP ticket in 2009. He was re-elected in 2014 but later joined the TRS (now BRS). In the Assembly elections held in November 2023, he was elected from the constituency on a BRS ticket for a fourth consecutive term.

With Goud's defection to the Congress, the BRS strength in the 119-member Assembly will come down further to 30. It also lost the Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly by-election to Congress. The tally of the Congress will go up to 73. The BRS also lost six MLCs and several senior leaders to Congress during the last seven months.