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Senior Andhra Pradesh leaders quit TDP for Jagan’s party before civic polls
Four of the six leaders who quit TDP in the last 48 hours have joined rival YSR Congress party led by current chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Six senior leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which is headed by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, have quit right before the local body elections dealing the party a big blow.
Four of the six leaders who quit TDP in the last 48 hours have joined rival YSR Congress party led by current chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Former minister P Ramasubba Reddy, a TDP leader for the last two decades, resigned and joined YSRC in Jagan’s presence on Wednesday.
Reddy, who lost the assembly elections from Jammalamadugu seat in Kadapa district said he quit since the TDP had lost people’s confidence.
“Nobody believes in the TDP and its president N Chandrababu Naidu now. It was evident from the way YSRC swept the last assembly elections. The TDP has not been able to find candidates to contest even the assembly elections,” he said.
Describing Jagan as a dynamic leader, the former minister said he was joining the YSRC unconditionally and would take up whatever responsibility he would be entrusted with in the party.
Another senior leader from the same district S V Satish Reddy, who was the deputy chairman in the state legislative council, also resigned saying that there was no recognition for him in the TDP.
Satish Reddy, who had contested against late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and later also against his son Jagan Mohan Reddy, said despite his loyalty and efforts to sustain TDP in the YSRC bastion, he wasn’t trusted and recognised.
Former lawmaker from Visakhapatnam Panchakarla Ramesh Babu also quit the TDP stating his unhappiness with the high command.
He accused Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh for allegedly ruining the party and slammed TDP’s opposition to turning Visakhapatnam into state’s executive capital as proposed by the Jagan government.
Babu, however, did not specify if he would join the YSRC.
Former minister and TDP’s MLA in the legislative council, Dokka Manikya Varaprasada Rao from Tadikonda in Guntur district quit the party and joined the YSR Congress party on Tuesday.
Similarly, former MLA from Kanigiri assembly constituency in Prakasam district, Kadiri Babu Rao, who had been with the TDP since its inception in 1982 and a close follower of senior actor and TDP lawmaker Nandamuri Balakrishna, also resigned from the party stating the TDP had no future in the state.
He, too, joined the YSRC in the presence of Jagan on Tuesday.
Reacting to the resignations, TDP official spokesman Varla Ramaiah said the party had nothing to lose with the defection of leaders into the YSRC. “We are capable of grooming new leaders for the party,” he said.
