Actor Mohan Babu joins Praja Shanti, to contest from Warangal LS seat

Hyderabad, March (IANS) Former united Andhra Pradesh minister and actor P. Babu Mohan on Monday joined Praja Shanti Party of evangelist K.A. Paul.

Paul announced the appointment of Babu Mohan as the president of the Telangana unit of the party.

He told mediapersons that Praja Shanti will contest all Lok Sabha seats in the state and that Babu Mohan will be the candidate from the Warangal Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana.

Paul claimed that BJP has no vote bank in Telangana. He also remarked that "the ruling Congress in the state has four Eknath Shindes".

He said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, ministers P. Srinivasa Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy are three of them. He, however, did not name the fourth. The Praja Shanti founder said in 100 days of Congress rule, problems have started for people in the state.

He claimed that people were facing drinking water problems while power supply was also getting disrupted.

The evangelist wondered how the Congress government will fulfill its promises when the state is neck deep in debts.

He claimed that if his party's MPs are elected in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, they can ensure the development of both the Telugu states.

Babu Mohan had last month resigned from the BJP.

He alleged that he was being sidelined in the party.

The actor had earlier threatened to quit the BJP before Assembly elections but the party tried to mollify him by giving ticket once again from Andole.

He, however, badly lost the election, polling only 5,524 votes.

In 2018, Babu Mohan had quit TRS (now BRS) after he was denied a ticket to contest Assembly elections.

The BJP fielded him from Andole constituency in Sangareddy but he suffered a humiliating defeat, finishing a distant third with just 2,404 votes.

In 2014, Babu Mohan was elected on TRS ticket from Andole.

The veteran actor, known for comedy roles in Telugu films, entered politics by joining Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 1990s.

He was first elected from Andole in 1998 by-elections and retained the seat in 1999.

He served as Minister for Labour in N. Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet in the then united Andhra Pradesh.

He lost the election from the same constituency in 2004 and 2009.

In 2014, he quit TDP to join TRS.