Ramulamma Quits BJP, To Join Congress!

In a major jolt to the BJP just two weeks before the Telangana Assembly elections (Nov 30), actress Vijayashanthi aka Ramulamma has quit the party. Vijayashanthi sent her resignation to state BJP chief G Kishan Reddy. Vijayashanthi was not allocated a seat in BJP’s final list as well. According to the BJP, Vijayashanthi wasn’t active in the patry and hence she wasn’t allocated the MLA ticket. Based on the ticket denial, Shanthi has decided to leave the party. According to reports, Vijayashanthi is likely to join the Congress party on Friday in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.

Vijayashanthi happens to be the fourth key leader to leave the BJP in less than a month, after the likes of former MPs Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, G Vivekanand, and Enugu Ravinder exited the Lotus party. Rajagopal Reddy and Vivekanand have already joined the Congress.

Vijayashanthi’s political journey has seen several twists; she initially joined the BJP in 1997 and held the position of General Secretary of the party’s women’s wing. However, in 2005, she left the BJP to form her own outfit, Talli Telangana, advocating for the separate statehood of Telangana. Later, she merged Talli Telangana with TRS (now BRS) and was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Medak constituency in 2009.

Following a suspension by TRS (now BRS) in 2013 for alleged anti-party activities, Vijayashanthi briefly joined the Congress, contesting unsuccessfully from the Medak Assembly constituency in the 2014 polls. After a period of relative political inactivity, she re-engaged with the Congress in 2017 but shifted back to the BJP in 2020.

Coming to films, Vijayashanthi, made a re-entry in 2020 with Mahesh Babu’s “Sarileru Neekevvaru” which marked the end of a 13-year hiatus from acting, during which she focused on her political career. However, post this, Vijayashanthi didn’t bag prominent roles. She is again back to active politics.