The YSRCP said the TDP should instead focus on implementing its poll promises, and warned that those crossing over would attract the anti-defection laws.
Hitting out at the "unethical and undemocratic" practices of poaching by the TDP, the YSR Congress said that Chandrababu Naidu should instead concentrate on the ways and means to implement the poll promises he had made, and warned that anyone crossing the floor would attract the provisions of the anti-defection laws.
"It is immoral and unethical for TDP to poach on YSRCP turf despite having a comfortable majority and even before the swearing-in ceremony. Chandrababu Naidu encouraging defections shows the values and democratic principles he has," YSRCP MPs Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy and Kothapalli Geetha told reporters here on Sunday.
"In a democracy anyone can opt for any party, but if the reports of TDP luring our Party MPs and MLAs into its fold are true, they must quit the posts and seek a fresh mandate to jump the line, failing which their election will be null and void," they said.
The entire exercise being taken up by TDP was a mockery of democracy, they added. A government functioned with a viable and vibrant opposition in place, and the YSR Congress represented the voice of the people in proportion to the number of seats won. If Chandrababu Naidu wanted no opposition at all, it simply showed his attitude and respect for democratic institutions, they said.
"TDP must be in a hurry and wants to swell its strength by luring elected representatives from our Party stating the technicalities of recognized parties and registered parties, but with the percentage of votes we have acquired, anyone crossing the floor will face the anti-defection law and has to seek a re-election.
"Even I have crossed over from the Congress to the YSRCP, and quit my post immediately. My resignation was kept pending for a long time, and I was elected from the party which I moved to, and this is a fair democratic practice," Rajamohan Reddy said.
"Even 10 days have not passed since the results have been announced, and the TDP has taken up a program to lure, coerce or use such other means to improve its tally, which is unethical. Instead it should be working on the logistics to implement its poll promises of waiver of agriculture and DWACRA loans.
"With the onset of monsoon very close, Naidu should be drafting strategies that will allow farmers to have access to easy credit, and address the plight of weavers and pensioners, besides providing employment and meeting other promises he has made," Reddy said.
"If the TDP continues such mean tactics, it will face the ire of the people, and will meet the same fate as that of the Congress, which was decimated in the state," he warned.
Kothapalli Geetha, the Party MP from Araku, said that she would be with the party and work under the leadership of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, and scoffed at rumours that she was switching over to the TDP.
"There is no truth in such rumours. I have friends in the TDP, and some of them called me up to congratulate me on my victory. No one has approached me to cross over, and even if there comes any such offer in the future, it will be declined," she said.
She also said that since Narendra Modi was elected on the development plank, funds flow to the tribal areas would be monitored. The YSR Congress would work for the welfare of tribals, she emphasized. (INN)