Tamilisai kick-starts LS poll campaign for BJP in Secunderabad

Tamilisai, who relinquished the governor’s post on March 18 and contested as the BJP candidate from South Chennai parliamentary seat in the first phase of general elections held on April 19, was appointed as a star campaigner of the party in Telangana.

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According to BJP state general secretary G Premendar Reddy, Tamilisai was made in-charge of the party in Secunderabad parliamentary seat, where state BJP president and Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy is contesting. “The former governor will be campaigning for Kishan Reddy for 10 days,” he said.

Tamilisai, who landed in Hyderabad on Monday night, began her campaign with an interaction with Tamil-speaking people in Secunderabad on Tuesday evening, another party leader familiar with the matter said.

“She will take part in a series of meetings with party workers, social media groups and conduct road shows and rallies,” the BJP leader said. “She is a popular face in Telangana as she has served as the state’s governor for five years and she also learnt speaking in Telugu to a large extent,” he added.

During her tenure as governor, Tamilisai did not have cordial relations with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao. While the BRS leaders often accused her of acting at the behest of the BJP, Tamilisai alleged that the KCR government had not given due respect to her as the head of the state and had denied her protocol formalities.

Political analyst Rama Krishna Sangem said there was nothing wrong in Tamilisai campaigning for the BJP in the same state where she had been the governor till last month. “The moment she relinquished the Constitutional post and returned to active politics, she has no restrictions. She is free to campaign for any party anywhere in the country,” he said.