Former IAF chief RKS Bhadauria, ex-bureaucrat Varaprasad Rao join BJP

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 24

Former Indian Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria along with ex-bureaucrat and former MP 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 and joined the BJP on Sunday nearly two and a half years after he retired from the forces.

Bhadauria had earlier termed the Balakot air strikes of February 26, 2019 as "the most significant air action by the IAF in four decades with fighters penetrating the Pakistan airspace, launching precise attacks and returning home safely".

With those strikes that followed the Pulwama terror attack, India had ended the red line it had imposed on itself. Mirage 2000 fighters of the IAF had conducted pre-dawn air strikes and bombed JeM targets in Balakot.

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."

Bhadauria said that in future, the forces will have even greater indigenous capability.

"These outcomes will be critical from the point of view of security. Phenomenal and visionary leadership of PM Modi and reforms being undertaken across sectors are lending India a new direction. India is emerging as a strong nation under PM Modi," he said.

Former IAS officer-turned-politician Varaprasad Rao from Tirupati also joined the BJP, hailing PM Modi's vision and noting 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. He took VRS and joined politics.

Inducting the duo into the BJP, Anurag Thakur said the joining of top professionals showed the trust that a prosperous, safe and developed India was possible only under PM Modi.

"Only a safe India can be a developed India. Officers like Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria and Rao have dedicated years to national service and now come to our party which fulfilled the promise of one rank one pension, struck peace resolutions in the northeast; abrogated Article 370 to enable development and harmony in Jammu and Kashmir and indigenised armed forces," said Thakur.

He said India's defence production had risen considerably.

"We had Rs 1 lakh crore defence production, and Rs 16,000 crore exports. The country is safe under PM Modi which is why officers are returning to the task of nation-building even after retirement," Thakur added.

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