Eatala Rajendar

Etela Rajender is in one of the biggest electoral battles of his political career as he faces his former boss and incumbent Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. He served as a minister in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly TRS) before joining the BJP in July 2021. Rajender was dismissed from the Cabinet over land grabbing allegations in Medak district, claiming unfair targeting by a faction within the party due to his influence in the BRS. A former student leader, he joined the TRS in 2003 and was elected as an MLA for the first time from Kamalapur Assembly constituency (united Andhra) in 2004, defeating sitting MLA Muddasani Damodar Reddy. He also served as the TRS floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Rajender was re-elected in 2008 from the same seat, which he later resigned, and in 2009 from Huzurabad. In 2021, after shifting to the BJP, he contested again from Huzurabad under the BJP ticket and won the bypoll, defeating TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav by a margin of 23,855 votes.