Eatala leaves for New Delhi

He is expected to hold talks with BJP general secretaries

Expelled TRS minister Eatala Rajender left for New Delhi on Sunday evening to meet the BJP leadership, setting at rest strong speculation of his joining the party.

He is expected to meet BJP general secretaries Bhupender Yadav and Tarun Chugg, the latter being the party in-charge of the State. Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, who is in Hyderabad, will join the negotiations in the evening.

Mr. Rajender was accompanied on his tour by former TRS MLA of Yellareddy E. Ravinder Reddy, who had identified himself with the former since the State government began probing the land deals of the ex-minister.

The government has so far initiated inquiries into land holdings of Mr. Rajender and his family at Masaipet in Medak district, Devarayamjal in Shamirpet mandal and Medchal.

Sources in the BJP said Mr. Rajender was invited to New Delhi to discuss the safeguards that he expected from the party in view of suppression that he faced by the government and his political future.

Three options

His visit was a culmination of three options that he had weighed since he was axed from the Cabinet, they said. Initially, he wanted the support of other parties to stand up to the suppression as an independent after resigning from TRS and the Assembly. Then, he dropped the idea of resignation as MLA and looked towards both Congress and BJP for cover to carry on his struggle. He finally tilted towards the BJP, seeking to further his political career and also ensure safeguards in a ruling dispensation at the Centre. His decision to join the BJP was an offshoot of the developments that had taken place in the last one week and only he was privy to them, sources added.

The date of his formal joining the BJP was likely to emerge only after Mr. Rajender firmed up his plans at New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Rajender’s wife Jamuna held a press conference to challenge the government to prove if the family held even a single acre more than what it had by purhase. She said the family had spent its income from poultry business on the programmes of the TRS in separate Telangana movement. The family had also sold six acres of land to raise money for a newspaper backed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Ms. Jamuna also said her husband had never been happy since the formation of TRS government. He had been humiliated at every stage. Thrice, he had been sent back by security personnel near the entrance of CM’s camp office, saying he did not have appointment.

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