Former chief minister and senior Congress leader N Kiran Kumar Reddy is likely to join the BJP, according to a report of Times of India.

As per the report, the 62-year-old is waiting for the BJP to give him an assurance on his rehabilitation in the party “that suits the position he held in the past”.

Kiran was the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh. He became Andhra Pradesh‘s chief minister on November 11, 2010 but resigned on March 10, 2014 to protest against the Congress party’s decision to bifurcate the state. Notably, he even made the assembly pass a resolution opposing the central government’s draft bill on bifuracation of the state.

N Kiran Kumar Reddy left Congress to float a regional party – Jai Samaikyandhra Party – in 2014 but after his party’s humiliating defeat in general elections that year, Kiran took a hiatus from politics for some time before returning to the grand old party in 2018.

“However, even after joining the Congress, he remained inactive in the party despite the party’s senior leaders visiting him and requesting him to be active. He was silent in politics even during the 2019 general elections. Now, ahead of the 2024 general elections, he is understood to have made up his mind to join the BJP,” the Times of India report said. “Sources said the former chief minister is asking the BJP leadership to give him a suitable position in the party in national politics.”

His father, N Amarnath Reddy was a three-time MLA from the from Vayalpadu assembly constituency in Annamayya district. Kiran too won elections from the constituency in 1989, 1999 and 2004 before moving to Pileru constituency in 2009.

Kiran Reddy was the Congress’ chief whip in the assembly from 2004 to 2009. He became the assembly speaker in 2009 during YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s regime. After Reddy’s death, Kiran succeeded K Rosaiah as chief minister.