Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh), April 5 : Former Union Minister, Dr Killi Kruparani joined the Congress party on Friday, two days after she quit the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Dr Kruparani and her husband Rammohan Rao joined the Congress at the launch of the bus yatra by Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President, YS Sharmila Reddy, in Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency.

Sharmila Reddy welcomed her into the Congress by offering a party scarf. It is a homecoming for Dr Kruparani.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kruparani said she worked hard for Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSRCP in north Andhra for the last five years but was ignored.

She said former chief minister, late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was a god for her.

'I see YSR in his daughter Sharmila. The state will develop only if the Congress party comes to power,' she said.

Dr Kruparani had joined the YSR Congress before the 2019 elections but she did not get recognition in the party. She had been inactive in the party for some time due to differences with the YSRCP's candidate from Srikakulam Lok Sabha constituency Perada Tilak and other leaders.

She was unhappy with the YSRCP leadership for not giving her a ticket either for the Lok Sabha or Assembly elections.

Dr Kruparani was elected to the Lok Sabha from Srikakulam on a Congress ticket in 2009. She served as minister of state for communications and information technology in the Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government from 2012 to 2014.

In 2014, Dr Kruparani contested again from Srikakulam as a Congress candidate but she finished a poor third due to public anger over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

/IANS