The exodus of YSR Congress (YSRC) leaders into Telugu Desam Party (TDP) continued with Kadiri MLA Attar Chand Basha joining the ruling party here on Saturday. He met Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at his residence and formally joined TDP, taking the total number of YSRC MLAs who deserted the Jagan camp to 13.
Several leaders of YSRC joined TDP along with Mr. Chand Basha making the ruling party stronger in Anantapur district.
Mr. Basha has been maintaining distance from YSRC for the last few months and has cited the scope for speedy and all – round development of his constituency under the leadership of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu as the stock reason for switching loyalties.
He called on Nara Lokesh, TDP General Secretary for A.P and Telangana, recently and made his intentions to leave the YSRC clear and finally changed the party on the same day (April 23) when Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy happened to meet Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in Hyderabad over defections from his party.
Mr. Chand Basha won over TDP candidate K. Venkata Prasad by a margin of barely 1,000 votes in the 2014 elections.
Mr. Basha was in the TDP before elections when he had played an active role in its minority wing but quit TDP after being denied party ticket. The TDP and Congress have won in the constituency two times each since 1989 while BJP won once in 1999.
