Former central minister Daggubati Purandeswari, who quit the Congress party last month to protest bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, is likely to join the BJP.Purandeswari and her husband Daggubati Venkateshwara Rao are likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of senior party leaders in Delhi Friday, their supporters said in Visakhapatnam.The couple is meeting their supporters Thursday to take a final decision.Purandeswari, daughter of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N.T. Rama Rao, is currently a member of the Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam. She is reportedly keen to contest again from the same constituency.
She joined the Congress before 2004 elections and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bapatla. She served as union minister of state for human resource from 2004 to 2009.Purandeswari was again elected to the Lok Sabha again in 2009 from Visakhapatnam on the Congress ticket and continued as the union minister of state for human resource development. In 2012, she was shifted to the commerce and industry ministry.The 55-year-old sent her resignation to Prime Minster Manmohan Singh after the bill for formation of a separate Telangana state was passed by parliament. She also quit the Congress party.Purandeswari's husband Venkateshwara Rao, member of the Andhra Pradesh assembly, also resigned from the Congress to protest the state's bifurcation.