After four TDP Rajya Sabha members jumped ship to the BJP, three more leaders from the party are set to join the BJP on Thursday. E Peddi Reddy, former MP Chada Suresh Reddy, and Boda Janardhan will join the BJP in the presence of Amit Shah in Delhi. This comes a day after the TDP national official spokesperson Lanka Dinakar and the party’s Business Cell Secretary Koneru Venkata Krishnan joined the BJP in Delhi.

The most notable defection is that of Peddi Reddy, a former minister and party general secretary considered close to TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. He was invited to the BJP by Ram Madhav, the BJP General Secretary.

The move by Lanka Dinakar to jump ship comes as a bit of a surprise as until last week, he was fire fighting for the TDP in Andhra Pradesh where the party that has been reduced to just 23 seats in the 175 seat Assembly and just three MPs in the Lok Sabha. Dinakar submitted a letter to TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announcing his resignation. In his letter he said the decision to quit the party was the “unanimous decision of my family members.” He joined the BJP the next day.

Dinakar was welcomed to the BJP camp by the party’s working president JP Nadda in Delhi.

The spate of defections from the TDP started last week after four of their MPs in the Rajya Sabha – CM Ramesh, YS Chowdary, Garikapoati Mohan Rao, and TG Venkatesh – sought the merger of TDP Legislature Party with the BJP. The merger was approved despite opposition from the TDP over the legality of such a merger.