As anticipated, senior YSR Congress party leader and Andhra Pradesh Minister for Labour, Gummanuru Jayaram, resigned from both the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy cabinet and the party on Tuesday.
He informed reporters that he had stepped down from the primary membership of the party as well as his cabinet position, and would be affiliating with the Telugu Desam Party later that evening at the Jayaho BC Sabha, an event hosted by TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party Chief Pawan Kalyan.
Jayaram explained that Jagan had urged him to contest from the Kurnool Lok Sabha seat, but he had no interest in participating in the Lok Sabha elections. Instead, he wished to continue representing his own constituency, Aluru, but Jagan rejected this proposal.
"I became frustrated with Jagan's policies and consequently made the decision to leave the party. Jagan is blindly following the advice of his advisers in his inner circle – Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Dhanunjay Reddy. There is no logical process in the candidate selection," Jayaram stated.
Accompanied by his brother, Jayaram departed from Aluru for Vijayawada in a large convoy to join the TDP at Mangalagiri. He is hopeful of securing the TDP ticket from the Guntakal assembly constituency.