Telangana TDP, Congress leaders join BJP

Hyderabad: Senior TDP leader R. Prakash Reddy and Congress party’s former MP Ravindra Naik on Wednesday joined the BJP.

The two leaders formally joined tje Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of party’s Working President J.P. Nadda in New Delhi.

BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao, Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, party’s Telangana unit President K. Laxman and other leaders were present on the occasion.

With Prakash Reddy joining the BJP, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Telangana lost yet another senior leader.

Muralidhar Rao said since BJP was the only alternative to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), leaders from all parties were joining it. He said BJP would continue to fight against the “anti-people” policies of the TRS government.

Laxman alleged that unable to digest the BJP’s growing strength in Telangana, the TRS was using police to book false cases against the party leaders.

He also claimed that the government deliberately created shortage of urea in districts where the BJP grew strong to malign the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Ever since the BJP won four Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, several leaders from Congress, TDP and other parties have defected to it.