Telangana polls: Former MP Vivekanand quits BJP, returns to Congress party

A long-time Congress leader, he first quit and joined the ruling BRS in 2013, but returned to the Congress in 2014. He went back to the BRS a few years later and then joined the BJP after being denied a Lok Sabha seat.
G Vivekanand
G Vivekanand
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Former Congress leader G Vivekanand, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a few years ago, resigned from the organisation on Wednesday, November 1, and returned to the Grand Old Party. Vivekanand, a former Lok Sabha MP,  in his resignation letter to BJP Telangana president G Kishan Reddy, said he was doing so “with a heavy heart”. The ex-MP is likely to get the Chennur Assembly seat from the Congress. The party is yet to release its third list of candidates for the upcoming November 30 state elections.

Speculation was rife for a week that Vivekanand would leave the BJP. A Congress leader from Telangana said that a few other ex-party leaders who shifted to the BJP over the last two or three years may come back in a day or two. “The third list was held up due to negotiations with him, and it will be released in a day or two as nominations for the elections begin from November 3,” said the Congress leader. 

However, giving the Chennur seat to Vivekanand may cause problems between the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Congress, as the CPI is expecting the seat as part of their seat-sharing arrangement. It is to be seen how the Left party reacts to the development. 

BJP chief spokesperson for Telangana Krishna Saagar Rao said that Vivekanand’s departure won’t make any difference. “There are people who have been in the BJP for over 40 years and leaders who joined the party over the last few years for their own benefit are political migrants,” he added.

Vivekanand, a long-time Congress leader and ex-MP, had first joined the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in 2013, but returned back to the Congress in 2014 to unsuccessfully contest the Assembly polls. He went back to the BRS a few years later and eventually joined the BJP after being denied a Lok Sabha seat by party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao during the 2019 General Elections. He is believed to have played a key role in the 2020 Dubbak and 2021 Huzurabad by-elections, both of which the BJP wrested from the BRS. Vivekandand also owns the TV channel V6 in Telangana.

In the previous 2018 state elections, the BRS stormed to power by winning 88 out of 119 seats. The Congress had then formed a grand coalition with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and other organisations, but failed miserably. The Congress and TDP could win just 19 and two seats, while the BJP got just one seat in Hyderabad. The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen retained its seven seats in Hyderabad as well.

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