TDP MLC quits party in AP, to join YSRC

Andhra Pradesh MLC Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy Thursday resigned from the ruling Telugu Desam Party reportedly because he was denied ticket for the Ongole Lok Sabha seat in the April 11 election and announced he would join the opposition YSR Congress.

Reddy previously served as Ongole MP as a member of the Congress. He had quit Congress in 2014 and joined the TDP, but lost in the then Lok Sabha elections.

He was subsequently made a member of the Legislative Council.

Our family has a special attachment with late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. In deference to the wishes of my well-wishers and supporters, I have decided to join the YSR Congress, Reddy announced in Ongole, after sending his resignation letter to the TDP state president K K Venkata Rao.

Reddy is said to be upset after TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu chose Environment Minister Sidda Raghava Rao for the Ongole parliament seat.

Interestingly, Rao himself was unwilling to jump into the Parliament election fray but Naidu was said to have prevailed upon him.

Still, uncertainty looms over the TDPs choice for the Ongole seat.

In the run up to the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly, three MPs, three MLAs and an MLC have so far quit the TDP to join the YSRC, even as both parties are struggling to finalise candidates for the polls.