Former Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy on Monday.
Welcoming him into the party, Pradhan said the BJP would form the government in Telangana after the next assembly elections.
Rajender had resigned from his Huzurabad MLA post on Saturday. His resignation was immediately accepted by Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.
Rajender was a senior leader of the TRS and has held top portfolios such as finance and health in the K Chandrashekar Rao-led successive TRS governments in the state. He was shunted out of the cabinet last month following complaints that firms owned by his family members grabbed assigned lands in the state.
Rajender, who represents Huzurabad assembly constituency in northern Telangana, had been associated with the TRS since 2003 and held several positions including party floor leader in the assembly, besides being the first finance minister of Telangana state. During the second term of the TRS, Rajender was given the medical and health portfolio.
(With inputs from Agencies)
