Setback to TDP in Chittoor as senior leaders join BJP

‘State dampening spirit of coop. sugar and dairy units’

BJP national general secretary D. Purandeswari welcoming TDP leaders Durga Ramakrishna and N.P. Venkateswara Chowdary into the party, in Chittoor on Wednesday.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) received a jolt in party’s national president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s home district of Chittoor as former Rajya Sabha member Durga Ramakrishna and senior leader N.P. Venkateswara Chowdary, along with their supporters, joined the BJP on Wednesday.

BJP national general secretary D. Purandeswari and State president Somu Veerraju welcomed the TDP leaders into the party’s fold.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Purandeswari took a dig at Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, saying that the latter had reneged on his promise of reopening the Vijaya Dairy and the cooperative sugar factory in Chittoor. “Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy during his walkathon in Chittoor district prior to 2019 elections had promised to revive the two cooperative bodies within six months of coming to power, but it is yet to materialize even two and a half years after he assumed the office. The YSRCP government is dampening the spirit of the cooperative sugar and dairy units in the State,” Ms. Purandeswari said. Mr. Veerraju said that both Mr. Chowdary and Ms. Durga Ramakrishna had done their best to sustain the sugar factory and the Vijaya Dairy in Chittoor for several years.

He said that the BJP would relentlessly strive for the interests of the dairy and sugarcane farmers. “The TDP leaders’ entry into the BJP is just the beginning of several others following the suit,” he said.

Badvel bypoll

Meanwhile, BJP senior leaders from Chittoor and Kadapa districts had a meeting with Ms. Purandeswari and Mr. Veerraju on fielding the candidate for the Badvel Assembly bypoll.