Marri Shashidhar Reddy joins BJP, vows to fight \'family first\' party

HYDERABAD: Marri Shashidhar Reddy, who recently quit the Congress after being expelled following his meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, joined the BJP on Friday, declaring that the Telangana political battle will be between the TRS,  which believes in "family first," and the BJP, which believes in "Telangana first."

Speaking to the media after being welcomed into the BJP at New Delhi, Shashidhar Reddy, the former minister and vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, said the TRS government was heading the “most corrupt government in the world.” After Telangana was formed in 2014, people had high hopes and aspirations about the state and their lives.

“These hopes and aspirations were destroyed by the TRS. The family first party should be shown its place. I have been concerned about the state's deteriorating conditions for some time. I believe that only the BJP can end the TRS rule in Telangana, and I will work hard for the BJP to come to power in the next elections," said Shashidhar Reddy, the son of Marri Channa Reddy, the late Congress chief minister of undivided AP.

Union ministers G. Kishan Reddy and Sarbananda Sonowal, party vice-president D.K. Aruna, and Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar welcomed Shashidhar Reddy into the party fold at the BJP’s national headquarters.

Shashidhar Reddy later met with BJP president J.P. Nadda at his residence, accompanied by these leaders. In welcoming Shashidhar Reddy into the party, Kishan Reddy targeted Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, saying, "KCR is desperately trying to convert a self-inflicted economic crisis in the state into a political crisis through various tricks. All for the sake of gaining public sympathy, which he has now lost. The people in Telangana want a change."

Sanjay said the BJP was fighting the TRS’ autocratic rule in Telangana and that the ruling party no longer has the courage to face BJP on its own. “That is why KCR joined hands with the Communist parties. Shashidhar Reddy has joined the BJP with great faith and the party extends its warmest welcome to him. The BJP, whose strength is growing, will put an end to TRS tyranny in Telangana,” he declared.