Former Telangana minister Etela Rajender joins BJP

Days after resigning from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), former Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP on Monday in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and G Kishan Reddy.

Rajender — sacked and dropped from the Cabinet on May 1 over allegations of land grabbing in Medak district — had said that he was unfairly targeted by the party.

“Based on an anonymous letter, an inquiry was started and I was removed as a minister within a few hours. Even before the inquiry was over, I was dropped from the Cabinet. There were baseless allegations. Without even informing me or giving me a chance to explain and debunk the allegations, I was removed,’’ he had said.