Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi senior leader and former deputy chief minister T Rajaiah submitted his resignation to the party on Saturday, February 3.
The development comes very close to the Lok Sabha elections across the country.
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.
This situation presents a significant challenge for the pink party as it readies itself for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent process of selecting candidates for Member of Parliament (MP) seats.
This development is poised to have a notable impact on the party’s preparations for the elections and the selection of candidates for the MP seats that lie ahead.
The former MLA of Station Ghanpur has 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 was 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.
There are several media reports suggesting that Rajaiah might join the ruling Congress party very soon.
