HYDERABAD: Rubbishing the media reports suggesting that he will be changing his loyalties to the Congress, BJP MLA Eatala Rajender has once again clarified that he was not a party-hopper and said that he joined the saffron party only after he was humiliated and shunted out of BRS.
His party colleague Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy too condemned news reports which claimed that he will soon be returning to the Congress fold. Speaking to the media in New Delhi on Thursday, he said that though his “friends” in Congress wanted him to return, he was not willing to do so. Alleging that TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy was spreading rumours against him, he said that he joined the BJP with the sole objective of dethroning Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Rajender, on the other hand, said that leaders like him and former MP Boora Narsaiah Goud had to face many insults while in BRS, but stayed loyal to the party till it came to a stage where the humiliations could no longer be tolerated.
Bye, bye campaign won’t win elections
Addressing the BJP’s BC Sammelan organised in Nagole on Thursday, he said: “There may be powermongers. But, we don’t solicit power. A post won’t come just because someone gives it to us. We reached this stage because people blessed us.”
Taking an indirect swipe at certain BJP leaders, Rajender said that BJP won’t be able to come to power just by saying “bye bye.” He was apparently referring to BJP’s “Bye Bye KCR” countdown campaign.
“To come to power, BJP needs the blessings of four crore people of Telangana. We should understand that duty and have that commitment towards that objective. I want to advise the leaders that if they want to win, they need to be with the people and share their pain,” he aid.
Referring to his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP State in-charges Sunil Bansal and Tarun Chugh, he said that the focus of that meeting on how to win more than 12 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.
“After winning in Karnataka, some vested interests are spreading false propaganda as if everything has come to an end for BJP. On the contrary, BJP is moving forward in Telangana by having booth to Assembly constituency level leaders. BJP has embraced me when I was kicked out of BRS. The party has given me due recognition. We are working to win 119 Assembly constituencies and 17 Parliamentary segments in Telangana. We are not those who change their minds at the spur of the moment,” Rajender said.
‘Leaders are not goods to be bought in the market’
“In fact, it’s the other way around. Leaders from other parties are approaching BJP. I’m not going to reveal the names of those who want to join us. I have the decency not to do so. Leaders from BRS and Congress are in touch with us. We will welcome those who want to join us. But leaders are not goods which can be bought in the market,” he said, adding that the Central leadership was determined to support the State unit in coming to power in Telangana.He told the BCs that neither Congress nor BRS would make a BC the chief minister. “That will be possible only if BJP is voted to power,” he said.