Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy and his family members on Saturday joined Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Suryaprakash Reddy, son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, his wife Kotla Sujatamma and their son Kotla Raghavendra Reddy joined the TDP in the presence of Chief Minister and TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu.
Deputy Chief Minister KE Krishnamurthy was also present to welcome his long-time political rival into the TDP. The Kotla family was to join the TDP on February 28 in the presence of the CM, but the plan got rescheduled as KE Krishnamurthy’s nephew was getting married in Goa on the same day.
TDP leaders hope that Kotla family will strengthen the party in Kurnool district ahead of the state Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections.
A three-time Lok Sabha member from Kurnool, Suryaprakash Reddy served as the Minister of State for Railways in the UPA government in 2012-14. After losing the 2014 elections, he had limited himself to just attending party activities.
The leader had time and again denied reports about him joining the TDP. Incidentally, he had even predicted a loss for the TDP in the 2019 elections on grounds that the Andhra CM has done little for the Rayalaseema region and had wronged the farmers in the state.
He is keen to contest again from Kurnool Lok Sabha seat while his wife is an aspirant for the party ticket from Dhone or Aluru Assembly constituencies. Naidu has also reportedly agreed to make Suryaprakash Reddy's son a member of the Legislative Council.