The YSR Congress Party, the main Opposition party in Andhra Pradesh, suffered yet another jolt as another of its MLAs today joined the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Attar Chand Basha, YSRCP MLA from Kadiri in the Anantapur district, joined the TDP in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at Vijayawada.
With this, so far 13 MLAs from the YSRCP have defected to the TDP.
Along with Chand Basha, his followers and other local leaders also joined the TDP.
Basha had been maintaining a distance from the YSRCP for the last few months, and predictably cited the scope for speedy and all-round development of his constituency under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu as the reason for switching loyalties.
It may be mentioned here that Chand Basha had won over TDP candidate K Venkata Prasad by a margin of 1,000 votes in the 2014 elections. Basha was in the TDP before the elections when he had played an active role in its minority wing, but quit the TDP after being denied a Party ticket.