"Casino King" Chikoti Praveen Kumar today joined the BJP in the presence of the party's National Vice President D K Aruna and former MLC Ramachandra Rao at the Barkatpura BJP city office.
Praveen was arrested in May in Thailand in a raid on the Asia Pattaya Hotel in Bang Lamung district.
The ED had also conducted raids on his residence in July 22 for involvement in hawala transactions. They did not register any case, though.
He had even the forest department raid his farmhouse for rearing exotic animals there.
Praveen is known for courting politician, film celebrities and VIPs, and for splurging money.
It is unclear what the BJP saw in him that they gave him such a high-profile welcome to the party.
Meanwhile, speaking to media persons on the occasion, Aruna said that there were suspicions that minister K T Rama Rao was neglecting the health of his father and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
She said that KTR should not focus purely on becoming CM, and should take care of the health of KCR.
She alleged that minister Harish Rao too was ignoring the health of the CM, who was his uncle.
She also said that KTR and Harish Rao were spreading lies about the free double bedroom houses and the BC Bandhu scheme, and urged the people to not believe their "election gimmicks".