Telangana BJP MLA Eatala Rajender on Thursday, May 18, denied media reports that he was planning to switch loyalties to the Congress party. He dismissed the reports published in a section of the media that he might join the Congress party. The former state minister said that Telangana's four crore people want CM K Chandrashekar Rao's “dictatorial rule” to end. He stated that only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would be able to do this.

"The BJP leaders in the state of Telangana are united and constantly strive to proudly form BJP's government in Telangana. It is not my practice to switch parties, and it is inappropriate to publish such news without consulting me," he wrote.

Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy had said on Wednesday that the party was trying to rope in two suspended leaders of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and two BJP leaders. The MP from Bhongir had said that he would talk to his brother Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and Eatala Rajender. However, Rajagopal too, denied the reports, terming them as misinformation.

I strongly oppose the misleading information that was published today in some newspapers. Telangana's 4 crore people want KCR's dictatorial rule to end. Only the #BJP, led by Hon'ble PM @narendramodi Ji, Hon'ble Party President @JPNadda Ji and Hon'ble Home Minister @AmitShah ji,

— Eatala Rajender (@Eatala_Rajender) May 18, 2023

Venkat Reddy's brother, Rajagopal Reddy, who had joined BJP after resigning from Congress last year, lost the bye-election to the Munugode Assembly seat, which he contested as a BJP candidate. Eatala joined BJP in 2021 after resigning from TRS (now BRS) when Chief Minister KCR dropped him from the Cabinet over allegations that he grabbed the lands of some farmers in Medak district.

Eatala had also quit as MLA from Huzurabad and contested the bye-election on a BJP ticket. He won the bye-election and emerged as a key leader of the saffron party. The BJP leadership had rewarded Eatala by making him head of a committee to invite leaders from other parties to join the saffron party. 

Following the recent victory of the Congress party in the Karnataka Assembly elections, reports emerged that Eatala had communicated to Amit Shah that the Karnataka election results had negatively impacted the number of people joining the Telangana unit of BJP. It was also reported that Eatala had shared the opinion of several leaders within the party who were advocating for a change in the leadership of the party's state unit. Rajender is said to be leading a group of dissidents who want the BJP central leadership to remove MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar as the state BJP president.