A month after he was dropped from the KCR cabinet following allegations of land encroachment, Eatala Rajender on Friday resigned from the Telangana Assembly and primary membership of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
Addressing a news conference, the four-time legislator announced that he is ending his 19-year-long association with the party for the sake of his self-respect.
Rajender, a member of Telangana Assembly from Huzurabad, said he was also resigning as the legislator.
Some followers of Rajender including former MLA Ravinder Reddy and former zilla parishad chairperson of Karimnagar T. Uma also resigned from TRS. He said they would soon announce their future course of action.
Rajender, who met BJP national president J. P. Nadda and other party leaders in New Delhi a few days ago, is likely to join the saffron party.
He slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for sacking him without even seeking his explanation to the allegations against him and his family.
He alleged that the chief minister humiliated him by denying him appointments on many occasions. He alleged that the TRS chief who used to believe in righteousness and people during Telangana movement is now relying on money, conspiracies and believes in crushing opponents.
"Many leaders were sent out of the party through conspiracies. Is there any minister in the State Cabinet who is working independently," he asked.
Rajender said he won the election whenever the party fielded him as its candidate. He also claimed that he got the ministerial berth due to his hard work.
"I also resigned on many occasions on the direction of the party for the sake of Telangana's self-respect. I am resigning again today for self-respect because I can't continue as a slave," he said.
Describing the chief minister's office as a camp of slaves, he said there is not a single IAS officer there belonging to scheduled caste, scheduled tribe or backward class.
Chandrasekhar Rao had sacked Rajender from the cabinet last month following allegations that he encroached lands of farmers for a poultry unit run by his family in Medak district. The government also ordered probe into allegations that the former minister and his followers encroached endowment lands in Medchal Malkajgiri district.