Telangana BSP president Praveen Kumar quits party

He accused the BJP of putting pressure on the Mayawati-led party to end its proposed alliance with BRS in the state for the Lok Sabha polls.

Hyderabad: BSP president in Telangana R S Praveen Kumar quit the party on Saturday and accused the BJP of putting pressure on the Mayawati-led party to end its proposed alliance with BRS in the state for the Lok Sabha polls.

Praveen Kumar said BSP's Telangana unit has entered into the alliance with the BRS led by former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and had followed all the guidelines issued by their party.

"The party's (BSP) policy is not to go either with the NDA or I.N.D.I.A alliance. But, after having entered into an alliance with a third party which is not a member of either of the alliances, suddenly BJP has forced our party to cancel the alliance. BJP has conspired to break the alliance," he told PTI videos.

"I am the last person to lose this credibility. So, I wanted to come out of the party. I don't want to put the party in a very difficult situation. That's why I have decided to come out of the party. I will decide my future course of action," he said.

The BRS and BSP on March 5 announced an alliance in Telangana for the Lok Sabha polls following talks between Rao and Praveen Kumar.

BRS and Praveen Kumar on March 15 said the BSP would contest the Hyderabad and Nagarkurnool (SC) Lok Sabha seats, while BRS would fight on the remaining15 constituencies in Telangana, as part of the alliance between the two parties.

A BSP release had also said that Praveen Kumar would contest from the Nagarkurnool constituency.