As Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu vacations in Europe with his family, his party on Thursday landed in a deep crisis. On a day of fast-paced developments, four of the TDP’s six Rajya Sabha members passed a resolution to merge their legislature party in the Rajya Sabha with the BJP, “inspired and encouraged” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “impeccable” leadership. Later, they submitted their petition seeking the merger to Upper House Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who will take a call on the matter.
BJP working president JP Nadda announced the merger of the “Group of Four” — YS Chowdary, CM Ramesh, G Mohan Rao and TG Venkatesh — with the BJP here at the party headquarters. The merger of the RS group comes even as one of the three TDP Lok Sabha members, Kesineni Nani, is also likely to follow suit and cross over to the BJP.
Their decision to back the BJP will give a boost to the saffron party in the Upper House as the BJP-led NDA does not have a majority there yet, though it is the largest block. The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP is the single largest party with 71 MPs while its allies have strength of 35 members.
The latest developments triggered speculation about the BJP aiming for a majority in the Rajya Sabha by engineering defections as the numbers to pass several key Bills in the Upper House elude the saffron party. With four of six TDP MPs breaking away from their party, it will meet the legal requirement of anti-defection law, which mandates the support of at least two-thirds members for a split to be recognised in Parliament.
Interestingly, till recently, Chowdary — the TDP legislature party leader in the Rajya Sabha — was being raided by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged money laundering and bank fraud case against a firm promoted by him. The ED had seized the firm’s assets worth Rs 315 crore.
Reacting to the development, Chandrababu Naidu sought to put up a brave front saying, “We fought with the BJP only for Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh and the State’s interests. We sacrificed Central Ministers for special status and condemn attempts of the BJP to weaken the TDP. Crisis is not new to the party. Leaders and cadre have nothing to be nervous about.” He is scheduled to return home on June 24.
Welcoming the TDP MPs, Nadda said merger would make BJP stronger in Andhra Pradesh where “we would expand BJP’s base.” He said for long these MPs were impressed with the “dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and organisational skills of party president Amit Shah” and wanted to join the BJP.
He said the MPs held a meeting and gave Shah the proposal for a merger which the party accepted. “I assure them that the BJP believes in politics of positivity and inclusiveness,” Nadda said and hastened to add BJP’s now famous tagline “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”.
Barring Mohan Rao, who had hurt himself, three other MPs were present at the conference of Nadda. Speaking on the occasion, Chowdary said he and his RS colleagues joined the BJP to contribute to the “nation building” under Modi’s leadership. He said all of them thought that the best course is cooperation and not confrontation as far as the implementation of the issues in relation to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act are concerned and the BJP was the best forum to sort it out.
“You are aware of the mood of the nation,” he said and pointed out that he had already worked under Modi as an MoS. The trio later attended the PM’s dinner along with other leaders cutting across party lines.
The four apart, several of TDP senior leaders and formers MLAs held a closed-door meeting at a hotel of Kakinada discussing their future. The meeting has fanned the speculation of them too quitting the party.
TDP leaders led by former MLA Thota Trimurthulu belonging to the Kapu community held a meeting to discuss their strategy. The developments came amid claims by BJP leaders that several leaders from various parties in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were keen to join their party.
The TDP suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of YSRCP in recent Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh. The party could secure only 23 seats of the 151 Assembly seats and only three of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the State.
