VIJAYAWADA: Veteran politician and former Chief Minister Nadendla Bhaskar Rao joined the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister and party president Amit Shah in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Incidentally, Bhaskar Rao’s son and former MLA from Tenali Nadendla Manohar is in actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena. A native of Guntur district, Bhaskar Rao was first elected to the Assembly in 1978 on Congress ticket and later played a key role in the formation of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He went on to become the Chief Minister of the united AP for a brief stint of 31 days after ousting the then CM NT Rama Rao in a coup.
Speaking to the media in Hyderabad after joining BJP, Bhaskar Rao said he would work for strengthening the party in AP. “I will contest the elections if the party asks me,’’ he said and added he will accept whatever responsibility the party gives him. Stating that the Congress would not come back in AP, the former CM said the BJP has a good future in AP and Telangana. Bhaskar Rao also said that the BJP asked him to join it before 2014, but he did not do so as his son Manohar was the Speaker of the State Assembly then.