Ex-Minister Dr A Chandrasekhar Joins Congress

The BJP suffered a setback in Telangana today with a senior leader and former minister Dr A Chandrasekhar, a 5-time MLA and dalit leader, who has been unhappy for some time with the BJP high command, today formally joining the Congress.

TPCC chief Revanth Reddy welcomed Chandrasekhar into the party and gave him primary membership.

Speaking to media persons on the occasion, Reddy said that Chandrasekhar agreed to join their party as part of the regrouping of the anti-KCR forces.

Reddy alleged that KCR had grabbed 10,000 acres of land worth Rs 1 lakh crore after coming to power, and alleged that these included assigned lands given to dalits. He said that Chandrasekhar had demanded that dalits and tribals be given the rights of ownership over the assigned lands given to them, and that the Congress would make a declaration on this in future. He also said that the party would bring to an end the ongoing tussle among the dalits over the controversial issue of SC categorisation, after coming to power.

Chandrasekhar had earlier been in the TDP, TRS and Congress, and was elected as the MLA for the Vikarabad Assembly constituency for five consecutive terms from 1985 to 2008. In the 2018 assembly elections he contested as an independent candidate for the same seat and lost. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections he contested as the Congress candidate from Peddapalli and lost again. He joined the BJP three years back, but has been keeping away from the BJP for quite some time now, and returned to the Congress now.

Speaking on the occasion, Chandrasekhar said that the Congress was the only alternative to the BRS in Telangana, and that the BJP was shielding the BRS in the State. "I am levelling allegations of corruption against the KCR government. Why are the BJP leaders not taking action?" he asked.

He added that he had resigned from the BJP as he did not like the policies of that party. "It was wrong to remove Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who left his family and brought the BJP to a certain level in Telangana, from the post of the State party president. The BJP's future is over with the removal of Bandi Sanjay as president," he said. He also said that Bandi Sanjay should say whether he was satisfied with the post of a BJP national general secretary.

He added that the BJP and the BRS were the same. He also said that at present the BJP was in the third position in Telangana and had no plans politically, and lamented that there was no place in the BJP for hard-working leaders.