Four TDP Rajya Sabha MPs To Join BJP

In a serious jolt to the Telugu Desam Party, four of its Rajya Sabha MPs are likely to join the BJP soon.

The four TDP MPs gave a letter communicating their decision to Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. Since the four form 2/3rds of the TDPs Rajya Sabha strength of six MPs, the anti-defection law will not apply to them.

The four leaders likely to join the saffron party very soon include Sujana Chowdary, C M Ramesh, T G Venkatesh and Garikapati Mohan Rao.

Some MLAs and former MLAs of the TDP are also reportedly set to join the saffron party soon.

Chowdary and Venkatesh told the media in Delhi that they were joining the BJP due to their appreciation for the leadership and develpment policies of Narendra Modi.

Chowdary and Venkatesh were considered very close to Naidu, and their defections come as a surprise. Chowdary has however been facing the heat from the CBI for pretty long now for loan defaults reportedly to the tune of Rs 5,200+ crores by his group companies, and his defection to the ruling party makes sense (though he denies any such motive).

Naidu is vacationing with his family in Europe, and held a tele-conference with party leaders from there. He slammed the BJP for playing with the minds of his party leaders, and also the four defecting MPs for joining a party that declined special status to Andhra Pradesh. He said that the TDP had seen several ups and downs in its 37 years, and that such incidents would not affect it.

The Rajya Sabha has 245 MPs, with 112 of them being from the UPA and 93 from the NDA (after the four TDP MPs joined the BJP). The BJP is the single largest party in the House, with 75 MPs (including the four TDP MPs who joined it).