while Minister for Minor Irrigation, Venkatesh promised to support the Arya Vysya community in Andhra Pradesh, suggesting that they had lost their way politically and that they needed to develop their trading capability. In September 2017, Venkatesh suggested that Kancha Ilaiah was a traitor and should be hanged. He believed that Ilaiah's book, titled Samajika Smugglurlu Komatollu, should be banned as it incited both religious and caste-based hatred. In 2012, he had courted controversy by suggesting that under-performing members of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) should be shot, which some people considered to be an incitement to murder. He subsequently claimed that it was a figure of speech and that he would retract it if IAS officers admitted their incompetence. On 20 June 2019 he joined BJP as TDP has lost in 2019 election. References External links TGV Group homepage Living people Indian National Congress politicians from Andhra Pradesh Members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Rajya Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh Telugu Desam Party politicians Indian industrialists 1950 births People from Kurnool Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Andhra Pradesh