: Kurnool MLA S.V. Mohan Reddy on Friday announced his decision to resign from the YSR Congress and join the Telugu Desam Party.
Mr. Mohan Reddy told the media here that he would join the ruling party during the tour of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to Kurnool on Saturday. He sent his resignation letter to YSRC president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. The MLA asserted that he would join the TDP as Mr. Naidu promised to develop Kurnool and resolve the problems confronting the minorities.
Mr. Jagan exerted pressure on him to coax his paternal uncle S.V. Nagi Reddy to contest against Bhuma Akhila Priya, Allagadda MLA and daughter of Bhuma Nagi Reddy, his brother-in-law, which anguished him, he said. It was improper on the part of the YSRC leadership to plan to field a family member against another.
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Moreover, he said he was pained at not being formally informed about Mr. Jagan’s decision to stage a three-day protest from May 16 in Kurnool against the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy and Dindi lift-irrigation projects in Telangana. Though he strived for strengthening the YSRC, he was not given due importance. Mr. Mohan Reddy is the fifth MLA in Kurnool district to quit the YSRC and cross over to the ruling party. Four MLAs — Bhuma Nagi Reddy (Nandyal), his daughter Bhuma Akhila Priya (Allagadda), Budda Rajasekhara Reddy (Srisailam) and Mani Gandhi (Kodumur) —have already joined the TDP.
The YSRC had won 11 Assembly seats and the TDP three in Kurnool district in the 2014 elections. With five MLAs quitting the YSRC, its tally of MLAs fell to six, while the TDP strength grew to eight in the district.