Reports suggest that the TDP MLAs are looking to switch to the BJP to help protect their interests, following raids by central agencies
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to engineer defections of two-thirds of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators, The Economic Times has reported.
This comes less than a week after four Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to TDP jumped ships to join the BJP.
N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP managed to win only 23 of the 175 Assembly seats during the recent state election. The party won just three of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh.
Reports suggest that the TDP Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are looking to switch to the BJP to help protect their interests, following raids by central agencies -- including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) -- on their assets.
A local BJP leader told the newspaper that with the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) coming to power, coupled with the raids, have led many TDP leaders to feel vulnerable and that their switching sides would be a smooth affair.
"The central BJP leaders are in constant touch with most of the 23 TDP MLAs and the defection could be executed over the next couple of weeks," the BJP leader said.
TDP sources told The Indian Express that a number of former state ministers, leaders who contested but lost the election and district-level party functionaries are also considering joining the BJP. Former BJP MLA Vishnu Raju told the newspaper that TDP leaders have realised that it was a "big mistake" to have left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
"They now acknowledge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are development and growth-oriented, and that people across the country support him and the BJP overwhelmingly. Most of these TDP MLAs and leaders know that development is possible only with the BJP," Raju said, according to The Indian Express report.
Andhra BJP chief Kanna Lakshminarayana said that while TDP legislators are expected to switch loyalties, two-thirds of the MLAs are not switching as of now.
Meanwhile, according to The Economic Times report, local BJP functionaries are unhappy that tainted TDP leaders are being welcomed into the party fold. A local BJP leader quoted by the newspaper said that it was "embarrassing" to see TDP leaders being admitted to the party when they have been fighting these leaders "for years".
Reports suggest that Naidu, who is currently in Europe with his family, has been calling his legislators personally and urging them not to take any decision in haste. Earlier, after the defection of the four RS MPs, Naidu had said that defections are not new to the TDP and that they should "work towards strengthening the party rather than worry about the four Rajya Sabha MPs leaving".Subscribe to Moneycontrol Pro and gain access to curated markets data, exclusive trading recommendations, independent equity analysis, actionable investment ideas, nuanced takes on macro, corporate and policy actions, practical insights from market gurus and much more.
