Sidelined and miffed, Vijayashanti likely to quit Congress and head home to BJP

Vijayashanti has recently been visited by top BJP leaders in Telangana and in return she has hailed the saffron party as a serious challenger to TRS in the state.

Former Member of Parliament (MP) from Telangana and popular Telugu actor M Vijayashanti is likely to resign from the Congress party and return to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon, said a senior Congress leader wishing anonymity.

Vijayashanti started her political career with the BJP in 1998 before floating her own outfit which was merged with the TRS later. (Courtesy-Twitter @vijayashanthi_m)

The leader said the party had been getting signals about Vijayashanti’s purported plans to defect to the BJP for the last one week. “Indications are that she might leave the Congress. It is an unfortunate development. She might take a call after seeing the outcome of by-elections to Dubbak assembly seat in Siddipet district,” he said.

On Sunday, Vijayashanti tweeted that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the state had weakened the Congress party and it had led to the growth of another national party, the BJP, that is posing a tough challenge to the TRS in Telangana.

“Things in the Congress party could have been a little better had Manickam Tagore (All India Congress Committee in-charge for Telangana) come to the state a little earlier. Now, only time and the people of the state will decide the fate of the Congress,” she said.

Vijayashanti, who was the star campaigner for the Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, was later made the advisor to the election campaign committee of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee.

However, she has been keeping away from party activities for quite some time and on many occasions, expressed her unhappiness over the PCC not inviting her to party meetings.

Last week, Vijayashanti created a stir in the Congress by calling on state BJP president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay, who was arrested by the police while he was on his way to Siddipet to protest against the seizure of cash from the residence of BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao in Dubbak by-polls.

Later, Union minister of state for home, G Kishan Reddy, went to her residence in Hyderabad and had an hour-long meeting with her. This led to the talk that she might join the BJP sooner or later.

After her meeting with Kishan Reddy, BJP leaders started showering praise on her. The state BJP president described Vijayashanti as a popular leader who had played a key role in the separate Telangana movement.

“It was unfortunate that she was completely sidelined after the formation of Telangana. Though she actively campaigned for the Congress party, she has not got her due in the party,” Sanjay said.

Following her meetings with BJP leaders, Congress leadership made an attempt to pacify her. AICC secretary Manickam Tagore and PCC working president J Kusuma Kumar went to Vijayashanti’s residence and tried to convince her to stay with the Congress.

Vijayashanti began her political career with the BJP in 1998 and was made secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha. When the Telangana movement reached its peak, she quit the BJP and floated her own regional party Talli Telangana, but could not sustain it for long.

She merged her party with the TRS in 2009 and got elected to Lok Sabha from Medak parliamentary constituency. However, when she was sidelined in the TRS during the formation of Telangana in 2014, she resigned from the TRS and joined the Congress.