YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been regularly commissioning surveys over the party prospects and obtaining feedback from various sources about the performance of his party MLAs.
At every review meeting, Jagan has been giving hints that at least 25-30 MLAs might not get the party tickets in 2024 assembly elections. What is more, he has been naming them at the party meetings.
This has led to a lot of insecurity among those MLAs, who have virtually stopped working for the party and are now looking up to the rival parties, particularly the Telugu Desam Party and Jana Sena Party.
Already, three YSRC MLAs – Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy – all from Nellore, have jumped the fence to join the TDP.
Though fourth MLA – Undavalli Sridevi from Tadikonda allegedly voted for the TDP candidate in the MLC elections, she has not yet joined the TDP, as there is no positive signal from party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
According to the latest reports, one more YSRC MLA from Rayalaseema, representing the minority community, is most likely to join the TDP sooner or later. He reportedly met senior TDP leaders of the party and sent feelers to Naidu, who has agreed to admit him.
This MLA also has been given the hint that he won’t get the party ticket, because of his poor performance as per the surveys commissioned by Jagan. As such, he has no other option but to switch over to the TDP.
A couple of more YSRC MLAs from north coastal Andhra are also said to be toying with the idea of shifting loyalties to the TDP. They, however, have not yet come out openly.
“More wickets might be down in the ruling party as the elections approach,” a TDP leader said.