HYDERABAD: BJP leader in Telangana Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar on Wednesday resigned from the primary membership of the party and joined the ruling TRS.
TRS working president and minister KT Rama Rao welcomed him into the party.
Bhaskar's resignation comes close on the heels of two leaders - former Legislative Council chairman Swamy Goud and Sravan Dasoju - quitting BJP and joining the TRS.
In a letter to BJP president JP Nadda, Bhaskar asked the saffron party if it has been adhering to the principle of positive secularism.
"While parting from your party, it will not be decent for me to blame, but, humbly call upon you all to honestly introspect. Nothing but striving is must," he said in the letter.
He alleged he was ignored, humiliated, underrated and excluded in the national role.
Bhaskar served as Rajya Sabha member between 2012 and 2018 when he was in the Congress.
Recently, he met TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan, the Chief Minister's camp office-cum-official residence here, and expressed keenness to join the ruling party.
Expressing disappointment at the NDA government imposing GST on handloom products, Bhaskar told Rao that he cannot tolerate this as he belonged to a family which is into handlooms.
The former Rajya Sabha member resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP in 2019.