Former Telangana minister Eatala Rajender will contest Huzurabad Assembly by-election as the BJP candidate.

The party on Sunday officially announced Rajender as its candidate for the bypoll scheduled on October 30.

Rajender had joined BJP in June after resigning from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and quitting as MLA from Huzurabad. This came after he was dropped from State Cabinet by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao following allegations of land grabbing.

Sunday’s announcement cleared the uncertainty over the candidate. Earlier, Rajender’s wife Jamuna had dropped hints that she may enter the fray as BJP candidate.

She had said that whether Rajender contests the poll or she enters the fray, it is one and the same.

Rajender was dropped from Cabinet following allegations that he encroached lands of some farmers in Medak district for the poultry unit run by his wife and son. Rajender, however, denied the allegations and said that he is ready to face even a judicial probe into his assets.

He was elected to the Assembly four times from Huzurabad on the TRS ticket. He was first elected in 2009 and retained the seat in the by-election held a year later.

He was elected again in 2014 and was made Finance Minister in the first TRS government. In 2018, he retained the seat and was made a minister again, but given the Health portfolio this time.

Rajender has been associated with TRS since the party was floated by Chandrasekhar Rao in 2001.

TRS has already announced G. Srinivas Yadav, president of the party’s student wing, as the candidate. He filed the nomination on October 1.