Even as its president YS Jaganmohan Reddy was camping in national capital to seek intervention of constitutional authorities and help from the national political leaders against the ruling Telugu Desam Party luring its MlAs, two more legislators of YSRCP on Thursday joined the ruling TDP.
In the fresh round of exodus the YSRCP MlA from Araku in Visakhapatanam Sarveshwara Rao joined the TDP in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Earlier in the morning YSRCP MlA from Srisailam in Kurnool district Budda Chandrasekhar Reddy joined the TDP.
With this the total number of YSRCP MlAs defecting to the TDP has gone up to 16. YSRCP, which had won 67 seats in 2014 was now facing a determined ruling party to wean away many more MlAs. Sources say that the TDP was keen to get another at least six MlAs from Jagan to make it look like a split in YSRCP and get one third MlAs of YSRCP merged with itself to avoid any action under anti defection law. The same ploy was used by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in neighboring Telangana against the TDP.
The development came on a day when Jaganmohan Reddy along with other party leaders was in Delhi meeting the Central Election Commission officials bringing to their notice the “unconstitutional and illegal” defections of the party MlAs to the TDP. He demanded that all the defectors should be disqualified.
“let these MlAs resign and seek a fresh mandate. Why the ruling party was afraid of by elections”, he asked. Mysoora Reddy who had quit TDP to join the YSRCP soon after Jagan had launched the party attacked Jagan saying, “he was an intolerant power monger”. Speculations are rife that he may also go back to the TDP.
Meanwhile TDP member of lok Sabha J C Diwakar Reddy said that the MlAs were leaving the YSRCP enmass because of the dictatorial style of functioning of YS Jaganmohan Reddy. “Ultimately only his mother Vijaya lakshmi will be left in the party with Jagan”, he said.
Earlier Jagan’s party suffered yet another setback when its senior leader M V Mysoora Reddy also resigned from the party and lashed out at the party president.