Yet another wicket is down in the Telugu Desam Party ahead of the general elections to the state assembly and parliament in Andhra Pradesh.
Senior TDP leader and MLA from Guntur (West) Modugula Venugopala Reddy on Tuesday resigned from the party and joined the YSR Congress party.
Though it was not totally an unexpected development for TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, it is learnt the latter was trying to convince Modugula to stay back.
It is learnt Modugula might the YSRC ticket either from Sattenapalli assembly constituency or Narsaraopet Lok Sabha constituency, which he had represented in the past.
In fact, as a TDP MP, he was one of the few leaders who had strongly fought against state bifurcation. In the assembly, he was physically assaulted by the Congress MPs during the passage of bifurcation bill.
Apparently, Modugula had been sulking in the TDP for not being made a minister in the Naidu cabinet despite his loyalty.
In fact, Naidu gave him the MLA ticket only on the promise that he would be given the cabinet post. When it did not happen, Modugula openly accused Naidu of cheating him with false promises.
Modugula’s joining the YSRC had been on the cards for quite some time, as there were reports that he is among the 40 TDP MLAs who might be denied the party ticket this time on the grounds of non-performance.
However, Naidu has been getting the feedback that Modugula has been hobnobbing with the YSRC leaders for quite some time.
Though he wanted to contest the LS polls again in 2019, Naidu has not evinced interest. That is precisely why he joined the YSRC after waiting for a positive response from the TDP leadership.