Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator from Qutbullapur K.P. Vivekananda joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the presence of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao here on Tuesday.
Mr. Vivekananda is learnt to have sent his resignation letter to TDP National President N. Chandrababu Naidu and also to the party headquarters in Hyderabad.
He is the sixth MLA from the city and the surrounding Ranga Reddy District belonging to the TDP who have joined the TRS ever since the pink party came to power in Telangana. Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Teegala Krishna Reddy, Manchireddy Kishan Reddy, G Sayanna and Madhavaram Krishna Rao are among several TDP leaders who deserted the party after the last general elections.
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Following the landslide victory of the TRS in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation last week, there were widespread speculations that some more TDP MLAs would also join the ruling party in the State.
Speaking to newspersons after meeting the Chief Minister, Mr. Vivekananda said that the results of the GHMC elections had made it clear that people were looking only towards the TRS now. "They behaved as if they had nothing to do with the TDP", he observed.
Mr. Vivekananda said that he was attracted by welfare and development schemes of the Chief Minister from the beginning and all sections of people were supporting the development initiatives of the State Government.
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In the recent GHMC elections, the TRS had bagged all eight divisions in the Qutbullapur constituency limits. Sources in the TDP said that the party rank and file in Telangana were worried about their political future since Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu had become Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and had no time to spare for the party affairs here with top leaders engaged in bickering.
As per these speculations, two more MLAs of the TDP would join the TRS shortly.