Former TDP Minister Sidda Raghava Rao joins YSRCP

Sidda Raghava Rao was a minister in Chandrababu Naidu’s cabinet.
 Sidda Raghava Rao and his son with CM Jagan Mohan Reddy
Sidda Raghava Rao and his son with CM Jagan Mohan Reddy
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Former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Minister Sidda Raghava Rao joined YSRCP on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. Raghava Rao had won the 2014 Assembly elections from Darsi constituency in Prakasam district. He was part of Chandrababu Naidu’s cabinet, first as Minister for Transport, Roads and Buildings and then as Minister for Environment, Forests, Science and Technology. In 2019, Raghava Rao had contested and lost the Lok Sabha elections on a TDP ticket, from Ongole. 

Addressing the media after joining YSRCP, Raghava Rao said, “In the past one year, several welfare schemes were introduced, which are useful for middle class and poor families. I hope more such schemes are introduced in the future.”

According to reports, earlier in March, two family members of Raghava Rao had joined YSRCP, along with another former TDP Minister Gade Venkata Reddy. In the same month, another TDP leader and former state minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasad, who had recently resigned as an MLA, switched over to YSRCP. Varaprasad had resigned at a time when the TDP, with its majority in the Legislative Council, was looking to stall the bills related to establishing three capitals for Andhra Pradesh. 

Back in December, TDP MLA from Guntur (West) Maddali Giri met CM Jagan, and soon wrote to Naidu alleging unfair treatment within the party. In November, Gannavaram MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi, who was then part of TDP, expressed his support for the ruling YSRCP. He has since asked the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to consider him a ‘special member’, and has sat away from TDP MLAs. The Speaker said that in order to join the YSRCP, Vamsi would have to resign from his MLA post.  

More recently, Chirala MLA and senior TDP leader Karanam Balaram Krishna Murthy also met Jagan in  March, amid rumours that he had switched loyalties. While his son Venkatesh formally joined YSRCP, Karanam Balaram did not do so. 

Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh, and as well as Guntur (West) MLA Maddali Giri were present as Sidda Raghava Rao joined the YSRCP. 

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