Further eroding the strength of YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Addanki MLA Gottipati Ravikumar on Wednesday, crossed over to the ruling TDP, the 14th legislator to quit the opposition ranks and join the party in power in the last two months.
Ravikumar was admitted to the party fold by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in the presence of TDP state president K Kala Venkata Rao and other leaders.
Ravikumar was elected to the AP Assembly in 2004 and 2009 as Congress candidate and later joined the YSRC after Jaganmohan Reddy floated his outfit.
In 2014, he was elected to the Assembly on YSRC ticket.
He had been unhappy with the state of affairs in YSRC and expressed his wish to quit the party a couple of months ago.
But it took some time for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leadership to convince its senior vice president Karanam Balarama, who had some reservations about Ravikumar's admission to the party.
"I will neither welcome nor oppose Ravikumar's entry into the TDP," Karanam had reportedly told Chandrababu as they discussed the issue last night.
By then Chandrababu Naidu was said to have made up his mind to admit Ravikumar, Karanam's opposition notwithstanding.
Ravikumar himself held several rounds of talks with his supporters and constituents in the last four-five days and decided to jump onto the TDP bandwagon.
Accordingly, a formal function was organised and Ravikumar joined TDP.