YSR Congress MP joins TDP

In a blow to the YSR Congress, one of its party MPs on Sunday joined the rival TDP, which is set to form the government in Andhra Pradesh. A three-time Nandyal MP, S P Y Reddy, who was elected on a YSR Congress ticket, switched over to TDP.

He was elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 on a Congress ticket. "I have joined TDP because BJP is a ruling at the Centre and TDP is the ruling party in Seemandhra. I could better serve my constituency if I am with TDP," Reddy told PTI.

Reddy on Sunday met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate N Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad and expressed this wish to join his party. He claimed that he had not communicated YSR Congress about his sudden decision to join TDP.

Reddy's switch-over has come as a surprise as he was part of an MP's delegation of YSR Congress led by party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy which met Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi and BJP President Rajnath Singh.

Though there were reports that another YSR Congress MP had joined TDP but there was no official confirmation. Meanwhile, a senior YSR Congress leader, who is also an MP, said from Hyderabad that there was no inkling that Reddy would join TDP.

"When reports came in that he has called on Naidu, I tried to contact him but he could not be reached," the MP said.

YSR Congress and TDP are bitter political rivals in Seemandhra, which comprises Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra. With Reddy exit from YSR Congress, the party's tally in Lok Sabha has been reduced to eight.