Telugu Desam Party leader and former state minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasad formally quit the TDP and joined the YSRCP on Monday, in the presence of Chief Minister and YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy. Speaking to media, Varaprasad said, “I was supposed to join the YSRCP in 2014-15 itself, but I couldn’t do so due to some unavoidable circumstances. Instead, I joined the TDP. Somehow that did not work out well for me. I wished to be a part of the programmes being implemented by the YSRCP and to work under Jagan Mohan Reddy’s leadership, hence I am joining the party.”
Earlier in January, Varaprasad had resigned from his position as an MLC. The resignation came at a crucial time, when the TDP, which has a majority in the Legislative Council, was seeking to stall two major bills previously passed in the Assembly, which would allow the YSRCP government’s plan to decentralise the capital from Amaravati.
At the time, Varaprasad had said that his resignation was in protest of the decentralisation proposal. In his resignation letter to the Chairman of the Legislative Council, Varaprasad wrote, “I’m opposing the division of Amaravati as the state capital. As Amaravati is being decentralised, I have decided not to contest all upcoming elections and I’m resigning as an MLC.”
Prior to joining the TDP in 2014, Varaprasad was a Congress member. He won the Assembly elections from Tadikonda (SC) constituency in 2004 and 2009, and has also been the state education minister for Andhra Pradesh. In the 2019 elections, he contested from the Prathipadu (SC) constituency from TDP, losing to YSRCP’s Mekathoti Sucharitha, who is now Home Minister for the state.
Welcoming Varaprasad into the party, YSRCP leader and Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh said, “Anyone working for upliftment of Dalits and other marginalised communities cannot thrive in the TDP. He is an intellectual, a well-read man. We hope he can help implement government programs in a better way with his ideas and contributions.”