Deccan Chronicle

Etala joins BJP, predicts more leaders will follow

Sanjay recalls Etala’s contributi­on to Telangana stir

- DC CORRESPOND­ENT

Former minister Etala Rajendar joined the BJP on Monday in the presence of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of state G. Kishan Reddy, state party affairs incharge Tarun Chugh, party state president Bandi Sanjay, and vicepresid­ent D.K. Aruna in Delhi.

Rajendar left for Delhi with his followers in a special flight from Shamshabad along with former legislator Enugu Ravinder Reddy, former Karimnagar zilla parishad chairperso­n Tula Uma, former MP Ramesh Rathod,

TSRTC union leader Aswathama Reddy, TRS senior leader Gandra Nalini and several Osmania University student leaders.

The leaders first met BJP president J.P. Nadda and later reached the party office where Pradhan welcomed them into the BJP with the party kanduva.

Addressing the media on the occasion, Pradhan said the BJP has become stronger in Telangana state with the joining of Rajendar. Rajendar has a good image in politics, he said, adding that he was confident that the BJP would come to power in the 2023 Assembly elections.

Former health minister Rajendar, who quit his TRS membership and his

● ETALA RAJENDAR was confident that the BJP would be strengthen­ed in Telangana and expected that several important leaders would join the BJP soon.

MLA post recently, said that to realise the BJP’s expectatio­n, he would work with commitment and in a dedicated manner.

He was confident that the BJP would be strengthen­ed in Telangana state and expected that several important leaders would join the BJP soon. The former minister said his followers and associates would work hard to strengthen the party and defeat the TRS.

Sanjay said the BJP was the only party to challenge Chief Minister K. Chandrashe­kar Rao and it would end his dictatorsh­ip in Telangana state.

Sanjay said Rajendar was a leader who played a key role in the fight for Telangana statehood. The BJP would win the Huzurabad bypoll even if the TRS and Chief Minister Rao spent hundreds of crores of rupees, he said and appealed to the leaders who were dissatisfi­ed but were continuing in the TRS to join the BJP and fight against Chandrashe­kar Rao to relieve Telangana state from his despotic rule.

BJP MPs Dharmapuri Arvind, Soyam Bapu Rao, Dubbak MLA M. Raghunanda­n Rao and other important leaders also participat­ed in the programme.

 ?? — DC ?? BJP president J.P. Nadda receives a bouquet from former minister Etala Rajendar, who later joined the party in New Delhi on Monday.
— DC BJP president J.P. Nadda receives a bouquet from former minister Etala Rajendar, who later joined the party in New Delhi on Monday.

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