Actor turned-politician Vijayashanti quits BJP returns to Congress, gets key party post

Telugu actor-turned-politician Vijayashanti, on Saturday returned to the fold of the Congress party after announcing her resignation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Soon after joining the party, the Congress general secretary KC Venugopal appointed her as the Chief Coordinator of the Campaign and Planning Committee for the November 30 Telangana Assembly polls.

The decision will be implemented with immediate effect.


Vijayashanti, a former BJP MP, was formally inducted in the presence of the Congress chief Mallaikarjun Kharge at an event in Hyderabad.

Her return to the Congress comes at a time when the party is leading an aggressive campaign for the 2023 Telangana election scheduled to be held on November 30.

Vijayshanti, was a big star in South Indian cinema when she started her political career with the BJP in 1997. She quit the party and joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) during its fight for a separate Telangana. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009.

Later she joined the Congress party in 2014, just before Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and Telangana was born.

Vijayashanti has worked in several Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her work as a female cop in Kartavyam.

She also starred opposite Anil Kapoor in the films 'Eeshwar' and 'Apradhi' and also with the He-Man of Bollywood Dharmendra in the film 'Gundagardi'.

Assembly elections in Telangana will be held on November 30. The counting of votes for the Telangana Assembly will be held along with those of four other poll-bound states on December 3.

In the previous Assembly election in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats. (ANI)