Kothapalli Geetha, the former YSRCP MP from Araku in Andhra Pradesh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday.
Geetha, who last year floated Jana Jagruthi party, joined the BJP in the presence of party President Amit Shah and General Secretary Ram Madhav.
Elected on a YSRCP ticket to Lok Sabha in 2014, Geetha was aspiring for a ticket from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, after it became clear that TDP would not field her, she floated the Jana Jagruthi on the slogan of social justice. During the launch, Geetha said that education, women empowerment, health facilities and social justice are some of the areas her party would focus on.
Geetha hails from Addateegala of East Godavari, and belongs to the Valmiki tribe. She is reportedly the first woman graduate from the tribal belt. She holds Masters Degrees in Public Administration and Sociology from Andhra University.
A former Deputy Collector, she resigned from all services in 2010.
In her speech when she launched the Jana Jagruthi Party, Geetha lashed out at both the TDP and the YSRCP for 'misguiding' the people for personal and political gains.
"While there are 90% of the people are BCs, SCs and STs, why should the state’s politics revolve around two castes and two families, as if there are no leaders at all among Kapus, SCs, STs, Yadavas and Matsyakaras (fishermen),” she asked.
Stating the main agendas of her party, Geetha said that she will give seats to women leaders and political opportunities to those belonging to weaker sections of society. She also said that there will be a social audit of assets of MLAs every six months if her party comes to power. She added that her party will contest from all 175 constituencies in the state.
Her party contested a few Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in the elections held in April but it came a cropper. Geetha unsuccessfully contested from the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat.
IANS inputs