Nation-building, YS Chowdary gives reason for joining BJP

Telugu Desam Rajya Sabha MP Y S Chowdary, who switched sides to BJP on Thursday, defended his action on Friday saying he wants to engage in nation-building exercise.

"I am not a career politician. I joined BJP to get involved in nation-building exercise. I joined politics only to do good for the country," he told reporters, a day after he and three other Telugu Desam members of Rajya Sabha--C M Ramesh, TG Venkatesh and G Mohan Rao merged themselves with the BJP.

"We have seen the mood of the nation in the recent election. So I thought that it can be a really good platform to serve as a Member of Parliament," Chawdary, who faces a probe by various revenue agencies of the Centre in an alleged bank fraud, said.

The MPs, who met Rajya Sabha Chairman and conveyed their decision to merge with BJP, were later formally admitted to BJP by its Working President JP Nadda.

On Thursday, Chowdary had said, "We have joined to work for the nation and particularly for the state of Andhra Pradesh. We want to emphasize on all issues raised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act to be implemented as early as possible.