Hyderabad: Over a month after he was stripped from his position in the state cabinet, former health minister Eatala Rajender on Friday announced his resignation from Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and also as an MLA. Rajender was the legislator from the Huzurabad constituency in Karimnagar district.
Addressing a press conference at his Shameerpet residence, Rajender informed the media that he has been “victimized” by TRS supremo and chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Once a close aide of KCR, Eatala Rajender said that he had been sacked from the ministry overnight, without any clarification even being sought from him. He questioned KCR’s call to oust him based on an anonymous petition.
“The people of Huzurabad are still with me and are anguished over the KCR’s decision,” Eatala Rajender added. Further, he said that though he had worked for the TRS for many years, he never received any appreciation. He informed that the gap between him and KCR had developed five years ago.
“Like me, Harish Rao too was humiliated many times,” Rajender said. He went on to say that the finance minister will not be present when there is a review meeting with the finance department officials. Calling the chief minister’s residence Pragati Bhavan a “slave’s site”, Eatala alleged that there is no presence of any officers belonging to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Backward Classes in the chief minister’s office (CMO).
Earala Rajender was sacked from the state cabinet on allegations that he encroachment 66 acres of assigned land through Jamuna Hatcheries Private Limited, owned by his family. He was removed from his post of health minister during the peak of the ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Telangana. Following that, he was also sacked from the health portfolio, which was taken over by KCR.
Eatala Rajender was a founding member of the TRS and was the finance minister during KCR’s first term. In the second term, he was made the health minister.