How many more should say it...? Anil Antony welcomes Reddy to BJP

Congress veteran A K Antony's son Anil Antony, who joined BJP on Thursday, has welcomed another former Congressman and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to the BJP with an 'emperor' jibe against the grand old party.

Taking to micro-blogging Twitter, Anil Antony wrote, ''Welcome Kiran Kumar Reddy to the @BJP4India! Glad you have also joined the organization that is working for India's core national interests and for public interests without prejudice and bias. How many more should say that the emperor has no clothes before the grand royals realise?.''

Though Antony has taken any name, it is amply clear that he is referring to Rahul Gandhi as 'emperor' and the Gandhi family as 'grand royals'.

Reddy is the second prominent Congress leader from the South to join the BJP in as many days. Antony deserted the Congress in January this year when he took a stand against BBC's documentary showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light and the party asked him to delete his post supporting Modi on social media.

Though the two-episode docu-series was blocked by the Union government later, it received support from the opposition parties, including Congress.

Anguished by his son's move, A K Antony called it a 'wrong decision' and a 'very painful' moment for him. He said that he would never support the ideology of BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which he accused of making attempts to divide the country and weaken the foundations of democracy.

Meanwhile, BJP's Kerala chief K. Surendran has said many more Congress leaders would soon switch to his party.

Kiran Kumar Reddy, who served as the last Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh before the formation of Telangana State in 2014, joined BJP in the presence of Union Minister Prahlad Joshi, party general secretary Arun Singh and MP K. Laxman at a function organised at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Friday.

Reddy became Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister on November 11, 2010, but resigned on March 10, 2014, in protest against the Congress party's decision to bifurcate the State.