Denied tickets, 3 YSRC MLAs looking for defection!

As expected, disgruntled YSR Congress party MLAs, who are being denied tickets by party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy based on the survey reports that they stand no chances of winning, are looking for greener pastures in other parties.

In Kakinada district, three MLAs – Prathipadu MLA Parvatha Purnachandra Prasad, Jaggampet MLA Jyothula Chanti Babu and Pithapuram MLA Pendem Dorababu are said to be planning to jump the fence in a day or two, as they were told by Jagan in no uncertain terms that they won’t be getting tickets.

As they realised that there is no future for them in the YSRCP, couple of them are planning to join the Telugu Desam Party, while the third one is said to be looking towards Jana Sena Party.

Sources said Chanti Babu has started sending feelers to the TDP saying he is interested in defecting to the party. He told the TDP leadership that he is willing to join the TDP unconditionally – without expecting any ticket. If he gets green signal, he will defect to the TDP on January 5. Readmore!

In fact. Chanti Babu was originally in the TDP and unsuccessfully contested from Jaggampet in 2009 and 2014. In 2019, he joined the YSRC and won the seat. Now, Jagan has decided to field former minister and MP Thota Narasimham from Jaggampet, which he had represented in 2004 and 2009. 

He later won as an MP from Kakinada in 2014, but before 2019, he defected to the YSRC. This time, Jagan has finalised him for Jaggampet, forcing Chanti Babu to defect to the TDP.

Another YSRCP MLA Purnachandra Prasad from Prathipadu, too, is planning to defect to the TDP and he has been trying through the local TDP leaders to reach out to party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

However, Pithapuram MLA Pendem Dorababu is said to be trying to defect to Jana Sena Party led by power star Pawan Kalyan, as there are reports that the seat would be allocated to Jana Sena as part of the seat adjustments with the TDP. 

“He has been camping in Hyderabad for the last three days to meet Pawan Kalyan and lobby for the party ticket from Pithapuram,” sources said.