Senior Congress leader and Telangana legislator Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy on Tuesday said that he has taken a decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Rajgopal Reddy, who is camping in New Delhi, said he received an invitation from the BJP to join it and had twice held talks with party General Secretary Ram Madhav.

He said by remaining in the Congress, he was unable to do justice to people who voted for him and hence he decided to switch loyalties to the BJP.

Rajgopal Reddy reiterated that only the BJP can be an alternative to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and he believes that BJP has a bright future in Telangana.

He said the Congress could not come to power in Telangana due to the mistakes committed by partyin-charge for Telangana, R. C. Khuntia. "Those who could not even protect the Leader of Opposition are talking of issuing a notice," he said reacting to Khuntia's statement that disciplinary action will be taken against him.

Contending that he is not joining the BJP for vested interests, Rajgopal said if that was the case, he would have joined the TRS long back.

Asked whether his brother and MP K. Venkat Reddy will also leave the Congress, Rajgopal said he would respect whatever decision he takes.

Speaking to reporters last week, Rajagopal Reddy attacked his own party, saying it had no future in the state. Rajagopal Reddy, who was elected to Telangana Assembly from Munugode constituency in Nalgonda district, blamed Congress leadership for the party's sorry state of affairs in the state. He targeted state in charge R C Khuntia and state Congress President Uttam Kumar Reddy, saying their style of functioning led to party's crushing defeat in the Assembly elections in December last year.

He said if the leadership had taken immediate action to remove Khuntia and Uttam Kumar Reddy, the party would have done well in Lok Sabha elections. He said that after losing 12 MLAs to the TRS, the Congress was demoralised.

IANS inputs