Four of the six Telugu Desam Party members of Rajya Sabha Thursday joined the BJP and sought merger of the TDP Legislature Party with the saffron party.
Four of the six Telugu Desam Party members of Rajya Sabha Thursday joined the BJP and sought 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.
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.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday condemned BJP's "attempts at weakening" the party in the wake of four of his party's MPs deciding to merge themselves with the BJP.
Reacting to the development in the national capital, he said that he was deliberating with senior party leaders on the issue.
"We condemn the attempts of the BJP in weakening TDP. The crisis is not new to the party," the former Chief Minister told ANI over the phone.
He said: "We fought with the BJP in interests of AP and only for the special category status for the state. We sacrificed central ministerial posts for the special status."
Naidu said that the party leaders should not worry about the development. "Leaders and cadre have nothing to be nervous about," he said.
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.
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.
The TDP, which is led by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, also has three MPs in the Lok Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP is the single largest party with 71 MPs.
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 "TDP Rajya Sabha MPs Y Sujana Chowdary, TG Venkatesh and CM Ramesh submit their resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Na")
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