Senior TDP leader Revuri Prakash Reddy and former Congress MP and ex-state minister Ravindra Naik on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The two leaders formally joined the BJP in the presence of party's Working President J P Nadda in New Delhi.
BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao, Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, party's Telangana unit President K. Laxman and other leaders were present on the occasion.
With Prakash Reddy joining the BJP, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is already in dire straits in Telangana, lost yet another senior leader. From a party founded by former Chief Minister, N T Rama Rao, that once held an ability to sweep most, if not all seats in a given district, the TDP in Telangana is presently struggling to even win MPTC (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies) and ZPTC (Zila Parishad Territorial Constituencies) in local body elections in Telangana.
Muralidhar Rao said since BJP was the only alternative to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), leaders from all parties were joining it. He said that the BJP would continue to fight against the "anti-people" policies of the TRS government.
Laxman alleged that unable to digest the BJP's growing strength in Telangana, the TRS was using the police to book false cases against its party leaders.
He also claimed that the government deliberately created a shortage of urea in districts where the BJP grew strong to malign the BJP-led government at the Centre. Ever since the BJP won four Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, several leaders from Congress, TDP and other parties have defected to it.
Just earlier this week, Former MP G Vivekanand, who has been with both the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), joined the BJP in the presence of senior party leaders in New Delhi.