The Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party in Rajya Sabha merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party with the defection of four out of its six MPs on Thursday.
“Hereafter, these four MPs belong to the BJP. They have strengthened the BJP foundation in Andhra Pradesh,” BJP national working president J P Nadda said, after formally offering party shawls to the TDP MPs.
Of the four, Y S Chowdary (Sujana Chowdary), C M Ramesh and T G Venkatesh were present at the joining ceremony, while fourth MP Garikapati Mohan Rao could not attend because of his ill-health.
“We have gone by the mood of the nation, which is clearly in favour of Narendra Modi-led BJP. We strongly believed that development of the nation, particularly Andhra Pradesh, will be possible only with the BJP,” Sujana Chowdary said.
Venkatesh said he was joining the BJP for the development of Rayalaseema region. He said the BJP was not new to him, as he had worked as ABVP leader during his college days.
He said the four MPs had already informed Naidu well before quitting the TDP.
Naidu, who was away in Europe, was shocked at the development.
Party sources said the TDP chief expressed anguish over the defections and blamed it on the BJP for bringing pressure on the MPs to join.
He, however, asked the party cadre not to get disheartened and said the party would definitely bounce back in the coming years.
