Former Telangana State Health Minister Eatala Rajender, along with his followers, formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party office in New Delhi on Monday.
Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan welcomed him with a party scarf and presented the membership form in the presence of his cabinet colleague Union Minister of State for Defence G. Kishan Reddy, TS in charge Tarun Chugh, TS party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and others.
"After Karnataka, we consider TS to be strategically very important for us in the South and we are sure to form the next government there. We welcome Mr. Rajender who held important portfolios of Finance and Health till recently in the TRS Cabinet into our party fold. He will joining the political battle against the existing regime led by Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Mr. Kishan Reddy and others," said Mr. Pradhan.
Due to the COVID restrictions, he said everyone could not be accommodated on stage but he did present the party membership forms and scarves to former MLAs E. Ravinder Reddy, Ramesh Rathod, former ZP chairperson T. Uma, former Secunderabad Cantonment Board vice-chairman S. Keshav Reddy, TSRTC union leader Ashwarthrama Reddy and others.
Mr. Rajender, called as "eminent and well known political personality of South India by Mr. Chugh" vowed to play his role diligently to strengthen the party to bring it power and said more leaders are likely to join in the coming days.
Mr. Bandi Sanjay Kumar claimed BJP is the only party with the "guts and courage" to take on the KCR's dictatorial regime and felt its time was up.
Mr. Chugh welcomed Mr. Rajender and pointed out that the latter played an active role in TS agitation, was floor leader and held key posts before he resigned from the TRS party and Assembly membership recently.
His presence would help the party dethrone the "dynastic and corrupt TRS Government" in the next elections, he said. Later, the leaders trooped out to meet the national president J.P. Nadda. Senior leaders P. Muralidhar Rao, D.K. Aruna and others were present.
Earlier, in the day, Mr. Rajender arrived in the capital in a special chartered flight with his followers. He is expected to return tomorrow and visit the State office.
