Eatala Rajender joining BJP today; over 17-year-old association with TRS ends

Hyderabad: Former Minister Etala Rajender's 17-year-long association with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi ends on Sunday, as he will be joining the BJP, along with his followers, on June 14.

The six-time MLA, floor leader of the TRS during YS Rajasekhara Reddy regime during the Telangana agitation and minister, Rajender will be joining the saffron party in New Delhi on Monday. According to the party, along with Rajender, a large contingent of leaders are also visiting Delhi. Some followers of Etala said as many as 180 party activists will be in the national capital to join the BJP in the presence of president JP Nadda.

Among the prominent leaders are: former MLA Enugu Ravinder Reddy, former Zilla Parishad chairperson Tula Uma, ex-MP Ramesh Rathod, former vice-president of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board S Keshava Reddy. Several ZPTCs, sarpanchas among others be switching over to the Saffron party.

Rajender had joined the TRS during 2002-03 and became an MLA for the first time in the 2004 election when the party went for the polls in alliance with the Congress. He had also served as the floor leader of the party.

The TRS leader had resigned twice during the Telangana agitation in 2008 and again in 2010 following a call given by party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. This is the third time that Rajender quit his post of MLA and threw a challenge to KCR. Rajender had resigned on Saturday, with Speaker P Srinivas Reddy accepting it. He also notified a vacancy in the Huzurubad constituency.

However, the TRS leaders feel that Etala may not be comfortable in the BJP given his background of Leftist ideology. They pointed out that Rajender had predicted BJP rout in Telangana. They claimed that he was frustrated and finding a safe place to avoid inquiry into allegations of land encroachments.

However, Rajender has said that he has no agenda like Left or Right. His only aim was to free people from the feudal rule of KCR and his family. After joining the BJP, he would take up a 'padayatra' in his constituency and gather support from different quarters for his candidature in the by-election.