Telangana Congress Leader DK Aruna Joins BJP

Guwahati: Former Minister of Telangana Congress, DK Aruna joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday in the presence of Party President Amit Shah, National General Secretary Ram Madhav and Union Minister JP Nadda.

Aruna is likely to contest from Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha constituency against Vamshi Chand Reddy of the Congress.

Joining the party, Aruna said, "There is no hope for the Congress party in Telangana and in order to fulfill the aspirations of the people I joined BJP. She further exuded confidence that the BJP will come back to power and that Narendra Modi will again form the government."

Aruna is a three-time MLA from Gadwal and was a minister during YS Rajashekhar Reddy's term and went on to hold portfolios of Small Scale industries. Sugar, Khadi and Village industries in Rosaiah's cabinet.

Aruna contested in the 2004 assembly elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket and won with a huge majority. She switched to the Congress in 2009 and continued her winning streak until the recent Assembly Elections where she was defeated by her nephew Bandla Mohan Krishna Reddy of the TRS.

The Congress had won 19 of the 119 seats in the 2018 assembly election and eight MLAs have defected to the ruling TRS since. Aruna's father Narshimha Reddy and brother Venkateswar Reddy were assassinated by the Maoists.

Her younger brother Ch Rammohan Reddy was a Congress MLA but was later defected to the TRS and got re-elected in the recent assembly elections.

The 17 parliamentary seats in Telangana will vote in the second round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election on April 18. The result will be declared on May 23.

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