Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar resigns, another jolt to BJP in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered yet another setback in Telangana as its senior leader and former Rajya Sabha Member Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar tendered his resignation to his primary membership of the party on Wednesday. He is likely to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), a speculation that gained credence following his recent meeting with TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) at Pragathi Bhavan here.

In his resignation letter addressed and sent to BJP National President J P Nadda, he chose to attack the saffron party for his experiences both on the personal front and also from a larger Telangana perspective. Venting out his feelings, Ananda Bhaskar said that he felt marginalised in a national role in the party while also feeling betrayed by the policies of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

He listed a host of issues where he accused the BJP of its failure, right from social justice and empowerment to caste-based census. The journalist-turned-politician was also critical of the NDA regime's pursuance of what he described as 'single language hegemony' and minced no words in castigating the Centre for its step-motherly treatment towards Telangana by "grabbing away several rightful opportunities from Telangana."

Ananda Bhaskar also spoke of how Telangana witnessed a complete transformation post bifurcation with initiatives like Mission Bhageeratha besides rapid strides in the agriculture sector. In this context, he accused the BJP Telangana unit of adopting a strategy to project these achievements in poor light for pure political purposes.

A leader from the Padmashali community, Ananda Bhaskar also took serious exception to the constant neglect of weavers' issues.

Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar's resignation came a few days ahead of J P Nadda's scheduled visit to Munugode on October 31. The BJP National President will be addressing a public meeting there as part of his party's campaign for the by-election to the Assembly constituency on November 3.

Below is the full text of Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar's resignation letter: