No More TDP In Telangana Assembly

Now that TDP MLA from Aswaraopet (ST) Mecha Nageswara Rao is all set to join the TRS, the yellow party will no longer have any representation in the Telangana Assembly.

Rao reportedly met Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and handed over a letter in this regard.

The TDP had won a mere two seats in the 2018 Assembly elections, but Sathupally (SC) MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah had already joined the TRS fold in March 2019.

With Nageswara Rao's defection, the Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) will formally be merged with the TRS Legislature Party (TSRLP) in the state's Assembly.

Both Nageswara Rao's and S V Veeraiah reportedly met with party supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Assembly Affairs Minister V Prashanth Reddy earlier, and agreed to merge the TDLP into the TRSLP, and received the ruling party's pink shawls to mark the moment.

Sources say that the two legislators have also apprised national TDP chief and former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu of the merger.

Following the deliberations on the matter, Assembly Secretary V Narasimha Charyulu has taken the necessary steps for the formal merging of the two parties in accordance with the stipulated processes for the same.

The Telangana unit of the TDP, headed by L Ramana, is already floundering to survive. With only a handful of senior leaders like Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy left to keep it alive in the state, the TDLP and TRSLP merger is bound to be a major setback to the party's electoral ambitions.