In another major setback to the Telangana Congress, its senior leader and former Minister D K Aruna joined the BJP.

She joined the BJP in the presence of party national president Amit Shah in Delhi Tuesday, party sources said. "She is likely to be fielded from the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat," they said. Aruna had lost the Assembly elections from Gadwal in December 2018.

"We will strive to strengthen BJP in Telangana and make it an alternative to TRS. We will work for winning maximum seats for BJP in Telangana in the coming Lok Sabha elections," she told reporters.

"Definitely her joining BJP will make the party stronger in Mahbubnagar district. It shows the sorry state of affairs of Congress in Telangana," BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao told PTI.

Eight Congress MLAs recently defected to the ruling TRS

in Telangana.