Hyderabad: The Congress cadre of Jangaon is unhappy over reports of former deputy chief minister and ex-Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T Rajaiah joining the party likely in the coming week.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, February 7, Jangoan district Congress vice president Jagdish Reddy spoke against the idea of inducting Rajaiah into the party.
“Even though we lost here in the Assembly polls, 95000 people voted for us. It means that the Congress party has grown in strength here. He (Rajaiah) now wants to join the Congress and is greedy about enjoying power…. That is why leaks are being given to the media. Don’t take him to the party. Even if you (Rajaiah) are inducted, our cadre won’t leave you,” he remarked.
Rajaiah submitted his resignation to the BRS on Saturday, February 3. The development came as a massive setback to the pink party ahead of the soon upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Rajaiah, who aimed to contest for the Warangal Lok Sabha seat, cited the “lack of responsiveness” from the party leadership as the reason for his decision to resign from the party.
The former MLA of Station Ghanpur also left due to his discontent with the party’s decisions during the recent Assembly elections.
He was dissatisfied because the party chose not to field him and instead opted for senior leader and former deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari, who emerged victorious in the polls.
After the BRS’ candidates’ announcement in August 2023, for the Assembly polls, videos of Rajaiah breaking down emotionally in front of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue in his constituency surfaced in the media.
Rajaiah had been representing the seat since 2009. After the formation of Telangana in 2014, he became one of two deputies to former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. He was given the health portfolio.
However, KCR dropped Rajaiah from the Cabinet in 2015 following allegations of corruption in the health department. Since then, Rajaiah has been sidelined in the party. However, in 2018 he was given a party ticket from the same constituency and he retained the seat.
In the case of the Assembly polls, he was denied a ticket given allegations of sexual harassment from a village sarpanch belonging to his party.
