Big blow to Naidu as 4 TDP Rajya Sabha MPs join BJP

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 20

Four Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Rajya Sabha MPs joined the BJP on Thursday in the presence of BJP working president JP Nadda.

The four TDP MPs earlier submitted a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for merging the TDP Legislature Party with the BJP, sources said.

The four Rajya Sabha MPs — CM Ramesh, Sujana Chowdary, Garikapati Mohan Rao and TG Venkatesh — are seniors in the party and considered close to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

After the TDP leaders held their meeting and passed the resolution they asked Shah to join the BJP.

They met Vice President Naidu with their resolution and letter to the BJP. They are all grass-root leaders who will help Andhra Pradesh progress like the rest of the country, Nadda said.

Choudhary said he had the experience of working under the leadership of PM Modi and was joining with progress of Andhra in mind.

Sources say ways are being thought to ensure that they do not have to resign from the membership of the Upper House and can merge into the BJP as a new group.

The attempt is to merge the legislature party of the TDP with the BJP with immediate effect under Paragraph 4 of the 10th schedule of the Constitution.

The decision was taken at the legislature party meeting of TDP in the Rajya Sabha.

The TDP, which is led by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, has six members in the Rajya Sabha.

If four of them break away, then it will meet the legal requirement of anti-defection law, which mandates the support of at least two-third members for a split to be recognised in Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP is the single largest party with 71 MPs.