Senior dalit leader Kadiyam Srihari quit the Telugu Desam Party today. According to party sources, he submitted his resignation over irreconciliable differences with the party, over the Telengana issue.
Kadiam had been an active member of the TDP since the inception of the party, and was also a member of the principal executive committee of the party (the politburo) .
He had contested (four times) and won elections, from the reserved constituency of Ghanpur, and was also a minister in the 1990s.
When asked for a statement outlining the reasons for his resignation from the party, Srihari told reporters that "The TDP has completely lost its credibility. Only cash-rich industrialists are getting prominence in the party at the cost of sincere workers."
Srihari (who had represented the TDP at the all-party meeting in New Delhi for discussing the Telangana issue) said that the party did not respect the sentiments of people of the region. In all likelihood, he will be joining the TRS. (INN)