Former MP Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar had a closed-door meeting with Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and is all set to join the party shortly. He is currently with the BJP and is said to be unhappy with the party leadership.

Ananda Bhaskar was first made Rajya Sabha member by the Congress Party in 2012. Earlier he was a journalist and worked with the Congress Party in the back office at Gandhi Bhavan. After serving the Rajya Sabha, he left the Congress and joined the BJP.

Ananda Bhaskar was handpicked by Sonia Gandhi as Rajya Sabha member during the crisis of Telangana agitation. The agitation picked up momentum after the death of Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. In an attempt to silence the rivals in the Congress, Sonia Gandhi wanted Ananda Bhaskar, a think-tank to be Rajya Sabha member to counter the TRS and the newly formed YSR Congress.

However, it did not take much time for Ananda Bhaskar to leave the Congress and join the BJP in the presence of Amit Shah, who was then president of the BJP. He was close to then finance minister Arun Jaitley.

Now, ahead of the Munugode Assembly by-election, Ananda Bhaskar met KCR and expressed his desire to join the ruling party. Ananda Bhaskar congratulated KCR for converting the TRS into BRS to play a key role in the national politics.

Ananda Bhaskar said that the BJP had destroyed the nation’s economy through the unscientific GST. He also took strong exception to the BJP leadership at the Centre for not consulting the states before introducing the GST.

He also blamed the BJP leadership for not helping the weavers in the country and imposition of GST on weavers’ inputs. He wanted KCR to help the weaver’s community in the state.