New Delhi | In a big blow to Chief Chandrababu Naidu, four of the six Telugu Desam Party members of Rajya Sabha on Thursday joined the BJP and sought a merger of the TDP Legislature Party with the saffron party.
Y S Chowdary, C M Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao and T G Venkatesh met Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and handed him a letter of a resolution passed by the legislature party urging its merger.
“Inspired and encouraged by the impeccable leadership of Narendra Modiji and the devleopment policies being pursued by him in the overall interest of the nation, we have decided to merge with the BJP with immediate effect,” read the resolution.
BJP’s working president J P Nadda and leader of the BJP in Rajya Sabha Thawarchand Gehlot also met Naidu and submitted a proposal from BJP president Amit Shah saying the party has no objection to the merger of the TDP Legislature party with the BJP.
Three of the four MPs later met Nadda and Gehlot at the party headquarters and joined the BJP.
“I assure them that the BJP believes in politics of positivity and inclusiveness,” Nadda told a press conference in the presence of TDP MPs.
The TDP, which is led by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, also has three MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Reacting to the resignations, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu said, “We fought with BJP only for special category status and state’s interests. We sacrificed central ministers for special status, condemn attempts of BJP to weaken TDP. The crisis is not new to the party. Leaders and cadre have nothing to be nervous about,” reported ANI.
The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP is the single largest party with 71 MPs.Their decision to back the BJP will give a boost to the saffron party in the upper house as the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have a majority there yet.
(With PTI inputs)
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