Former Andhra CM Kiran Kumar Reddy joins BJP weeks after leaving Congress

Andhra Pradesh,Apr 7 :  Kiran Kumar Reddy, the last Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, joined the BJP on Friday. This came a few weeks after he left the Congress by sending a one-line resignation letter to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

His joining ceremony was held at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi where party leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi inducted him into the party.

Giving a speech at the ceremony, Kiran Kumar said he had never imagined that he would leave the Congress party. He took a veiled jibe at the Congress high command and said, “There is a saying- ‘My king is very intelligent, he doesn’t think on his own, doesn’t listen to anyone’s advice’.”

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said several members of Kiran Kumar’s family were in the Congress. He lauded the former Andhra CM’s decision to join the BJP and said, “He will strengthen our fight against corruption because his image as an MLA and minister has been very clean. It will be a big boost for the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.”

Kiran Kumar had resigned from the Congress party in 2014 too, to protest against the then UPA government’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and carve out Telangana. He formed his own party ‘Jai Samaikyandhra’ and even fielded candidates in some constituencies in the 2014 elections.

Former Andhra CM Kiran Kumar Reddy resigns from Congress

However, with no electoral gains, the former CM stayed away from politics for a long time before he rejoined the Congress again in 2018.

The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh came at a heavy price for the Congress – there was a mass exodus of party leaders following the division and the grand old party has not been able to win a single Lok Sabha or Assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh since then.

-The New Indian Express