Eatala Rajender to cross the Rubicon and join saffron brigade?

HYDERABAD: Former Health Minister Eatala Rajender, who has fallen from grace, appears to be caught on the horns of a dilemma in charting his future political course. He has already knocked the doors of the Congress and is now in touch with the BJP leaders.

There is a buzz that he is now finding out how green the grass is in both the parties, should he take a decision to join either of them. It is also quite possible that he might be seeking their help in the unlikely event of contesting from Huzurabad as he is, for the time being, understood to have taken a decision against quitting the membership of the Assembly.

For the last few days, he has been in hectic parleys with State BJP level leaders, including State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, former MP AP Jitender Reddy and party leader DK Aruna. Unconfirmed reports said that Rajender has also spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the telephone and that a top BJP functionary has arrived in Hyderabad from Delhi to make him cross the Rubicon and join forces with the BJP.

Jitender Reddy admitted that they both had a one-on-one meeting, but Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said Rajender had not met him in the recent past, though the latter has sought time to meet him in person.

Many leaders believe that his immediate priority is to have the support of a national party since CM K Chandrasekhar Rao is going for his jugular by ordering inquiries into the land transactions he and his family had done in the past.