Team News Riveting
New Delhi, March 24
Former Indian Air Force Chief R K S Bhadauria and bureaucrat-turned politician- Varaprasad Rao joined the BJP on Sunday in the presence of the top party brass.
Bhadauria was the 23rd Air chief from September 2019 to September 2021. Speaking on his joining the BJP in the presence of party national general secretary Vinod Tawde and Union minister Anurag Thakur, Bhadauria said, “I am thankful to the BJP for this opportunity to contribute to nation-building. I served the IAF for over 40 years. This was a great honour. The golden period of the Forces was the last decade of my service. The bold decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen the armed forces, make them self-reliant and modernise them have ensured that Indian forces attain new capability and confidence which is now visible in the field.”
Former IAS officer-turned-politician Varaprasad Rao from Tirupati also joined the BJP. The 1983-batch IAS officer from Tamil Nadu cadre hailed PM Modi’s vision and noted that under the BJP Tirupati had witnessed a 100 times increase in its development in terms of road and rail network and smart city features.
“Tirupati’s development has improved a hundred times. A lot of flyovers have come up. There are no traffic jams. Many new roads and trains have been introduced,” said Rao, whose first political break was courtesy actor Chiranjeevi and his brother Pawan Kalyan.
Rao served in the governments of MG Ramachandran, J Jayalalitha and K Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu. After taking a voluntary retirement from the IAS, Rao decided to take a plunge into politics. The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) headed by actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi offered him an MP seat from Tirupati along with a position of Vice-President of the party.
During his association with PRP as Vice President, he was actively involved with the drafting of the Party Manifesto. Most of his views on the welfare of weaker sections, women and minorities were incorporated into the manifesto.
Rao also undertook a Praja Sankalpa Yatra, along with the YSR Congress Party Chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy
