Hyderabad: The BJP in Telangana state suffered yet another jolt on Wednesday ahead of Assembly polls. Senior leader and former Lok Sabha member G. Vivekanand tendered his resignation to the BJP and decided to join the Congress.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke to Vivekanand over the phone on Wednesday and invited him to join the Congress. Rahul Gandhi, who is currently campaigning in Telangana state for the Assembly polls, stayed overnight at a star hotel in Hyderabad, after concluding his first day campaigning in Mahbubnagar district on Tuesday.
Vivekanand tendered his resignation to the BJP on Wednesday morning. Rahul Gandhi came to know about Vivekanand's resignation when he was in the hotel. He immediately had a telephonic conversation with him and invited him to the Congress.
Party sources said that Rahul Gandhi offered Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat to Vivekanand and Chennur Assembly seat to his son G. Vamsi. The Chennur seat was earlier offered to the CPI as part of an alliance with the Left Parties. It remains to be seen how the Left Parties will react to this development.
In his brief resignation letter addressed to Telangana BJP state president G Kishan Reddy, Vivekanand said, “With a heavy heart, I tender my resignation from the BJP. Thank you for your support during my tenure.”
TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said that Rahul Gandhi spoke to G. Vivekanand over phone and invited him to join the Congress.
Speaking to media persons, Revanth Reddy said the Congress is uniting all the forces in the state to dethrone the 'corrupt and undemocratic' BRS government led by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and Rahul Gandhi invited Vivek as part of the unification of anti-KCR forces in Telangana state.
Revanth Reddy said Vivekanand was the Congress Lok Sabha member from Peddapalli from 2009 to 2014 and his return to Congress ahead of Assembly polls will definitely strengthen the party.
Vivekanand lost to the BRS from the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat in 2014. But subsequently, he joined the BRS in 2016. After the BRS leadership denied him Peddapalli Lok Sabha ticket in 2019, he joined the BJP and remained with the party since then.
Last month, former MP Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy quit the BJP and joined the Congress. The Congress leadership has given him ticket from Munugode for the upcoming Assembly polls, from where Rajgopal won on the Congress ticket in 2018, but quit the party in August 2022 to join the BJP and forced bypoll. But he lost the Munugode bypoll to the BRS.
