Hyderabad: Actor-politician M. Vijayashanthi joined the Congress here on Friday, two days after leaving the BJP.
In the presence of Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, party in-charge for Telangana, Manikrai Thakare, and others, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed her into the party.
Less than two weeks before the Telangana Assembly elections on November 30, the former MP made a comeback to the Congress.
After abstaining from party events for the previous few months, Vijayashanti, a member of the BJP national executive, announced his resignation from the party on Wednesday.
In less than a month, she has become the fourth prominent leader to leave the BJP. Among the leaders who have shifted allegiance to the Congress are G. Vivekanand and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, two former MPs.
After fifteen years, Vijayashanthi rejoined the BJP in December 2020.
She was the General Secretary of the women’s wing of the BJP when she joined in 1997. In order to launch Talli Telangana, a distinct organization, and advocate for Telangana’s independence from the BJP, she left the party in 2005.
She later united Talli Telangana with the TRS, which is now known as the BRS, and in 2009 she won a seat in the Lok Sabha representing Medak.
In August 2013, a few months before the formation of Telangana state, TRS suspended Vijayashanthi for anti-party activities.
She later joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested from the Medak Assembly constituency in the 2014 polls.
After lying low for four years, Vijayashanthi again became active in Congress in 2017 and was named its star campaigner for the party in the 2018 Assembly polls. After the party’s debacle, she was not active in the party and returned to the BJP in 2020.
