Another jolt to BJP as Vivek Venkatswamy quits and joins Congress

Hyderabad: In yet another major jolt to the BJP in Telangana ahead of the November 30 Assembly elections, former MP and BJP Manifesto committee chairman G Vivek Venkatswamy (G Vivekanand) resigned from the party and joined the Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi in the city on Wednesday.

Vivek’s exit from the party comes less than a week after another senior leader and former MLA, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, resigned from the BJP and joined the Congress. His two-line resignation letter to BJP State president G Kishan Reddy came as a culmination to reports for the last few months that he was extremely dissappointed with the way the BJP was functioning in the party.

“With a heavy heart, I tender my resignation from the BJP. Thanks for your support during my tenure,” was all that Vivek said in the letter. He, along with his son Vamsi Krishna, later met Rahul Gandhi, who is in the State, at a hotel in the city and joined the party.

Earlier, AICC Chief Mallikarjun Kharge is said to have formally invited Vivek over phone to return to the party. It is also learnt that the Congress high command has assured his son Vamsi the Chennur assembly seat in the ensuing elections.

Speaking to the media after joining the Congress, Vivek said he firmly believed that the Congress was the only party which could dethrone the BRS.

Vivek was first elected to Parliament in 2009 from Peddapalli constituency on a Congress ticket, and he later joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (Now BRS) before aligning himself again with the Congress. He then switched to the BJP, only to resign on Wednesday. He was happy in BJP and maintained a distance from party activities for the last few months and had even skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting thrice.