Hyderabad, Feb 7 (IANS): In a jolt to the BJP in Telangana ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, former minister and actor P. Babu Mohan on Wednesday resigned from the party.

He told media persons that he was being sidelined in the party. He alleged that state BJP chief G. Kishan Reddy was not responding to his calls.

He revealed that he wants to contest for Lok Sabha from Warangal constituency but did not disclose which party he would be joining.

Since Babu Mohan's son recently joined Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), he is likely to join the party.

The actor had earlier threatened to quit BJP before Assembly elections but the party tried to mollify him by giving ticket one again from Andole.

He, however, badly lost the election, polling only 5,524 votes.

In 2018, former minister Babu Mohan had quit TRS (now BRS) after he was denied a ticket to contest Assembly elections.

The saffron party fielded him from Andole constituency in Sangareddy but he suffered a humiliating defeat, finishing a distant third with just 2,404 votes.

In 2014, Babu Mohan was elected on TRS ticket from Andole.

The veteran actor, known for comedy roles in Telugu films, entered politics by joining Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 1990s.

He was first elected from Andole in 1998 by-elections and retained the seat in 1999.

He served as Minister for Labour in Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet in the then unified Andhra Pradesh.

He lost the election from the same constituency in 2004 and 2009. In 2014, he quit TDP to join TRS.