Ex-MP G Vivekanand joins BJP, slams KCR as 'dictator'

New Delhi [India], Aug 9 (ANI): Former MP and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader G Vivekanand joined Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday here at the party headquarters.
Vivekanand joined BJP in the presence of Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, BJP General Secretary Arun Singh and Telangana BJP President K Laxman.
Welcoming him in the party fold, Reddy said Vivekanand was fed up with the TRS, which was working as a "private limited company" and hence decided to resign from the post of advisor to the state government.
"The party will be strengthened in Telangana and the BJP would emerge as a powerful force in the state," he said.
On the occasion, Vivekanand hit out at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and vowed to dethrone him in the next Assembly elections.
"Like a dictator, he (KCR) has been taking decisions arbitrarily. He is acting against the interest of Telangana. He has made Telangana a debt-ridden state. There was a need to resist this dictatorial behaviour. So, I have joined BJP to dethrone Rao as Chief Minister of Telangana," he said.
Vivekanand, who is the son of former Union Minister and Congress veteran G Venkataswamy, had been associated with both Congress and TRS in the past. He was also an advisor to the Telangana government but resigned from the post as he was denied a ticket by the TRS.
During the Telangana agitation, he had quit the Congress and joined the TRS. However, he went back to Congress after the formation of Telangana.
In 2014, he contested from Peddapalli parliamentary constituency but was defeated by TRS' Balka Suman.
He again joined the TRS after an assurance from KCR of a ticket from Pedapalli to contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
However, in 2019, when the TRS refused to give him a ticket for the Lok Sabha seat from Peddapalli, he quit the party.
BJP, which lost deposit in 100 of the total 117 segments in the Assembly polls held in December 2018, pulled off surprising results in the Lok Sabha elections, winning four seats.
The party's nominees won from Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Secunderabad. (ANI)