Former PRP political affairs committee member V G R Naragoni, along with about 100 of his followers, on Saturday joined the Telugu Desam Party in the presence of party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
Welcoming the new entrants to the party fold, Naidu said that they were welcome in the party which had fought for the rights of people of the Backward Castes since its inception.
He said that the Backward Castes were being neglected by the Congress government in the state, while the TDP had been consistent in its demand that the government undertake caste-based census.
Naidu said that the TDP had raised the issue in parliament and that the government had agreed to go in for caste-based census.
The TDP chief said that the headcount has been finished but that does not mean that the party will abandon the issue.
He accused the state and central governments of competing with each other to increase taxes. He said that if the central government increases any tax, the state government increases VAT.
Naidu said that unlike the many regional parties in the country which sprang up and then gradually vanished after merging with some or the other party, the TDP is the only party which has stood the test of time and is fighting the Congress tooth and nail over the various issues facing people. He also claimed that students are meeting him and expressing their angst against the government.
The TDP chief said that the TDP will corner the government in the state assembly and will not let the government wash its hands off the fee reimbursement issue.