Another TDP MLA resigns, joins TRS
TDP pays price for ‘not coming out clear on Telangana’
In yet another blow to the main Opposition in Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), one more legislator on Thursday announced his decision to quit, accusing the party of not taking a clear stand on Telangana.
The TDP has lost seven of its legislators from the Telangana region in just one year, owing to its rather ambiguous two regions-two eyes policy.
While some legislators who quit the party are planning to float a new outfit, others have joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is spearheading the Telangana movement.
On Thursday, Kamareddy (Nizamabad) legislator Gampa Goverdhan announced that he has sent his resignation to TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu. The legislator said: “Respecting the sentiments of the people of my constituency and the entire Telangana, I have resigned from the TDP and decided to join the TRS.”
Goverdhan is the seventh TDP legislator to quit the party in one year. While four legislators, including former minister Nagam Janardhana Reddy, plan to float a separate outfit, three MLAs, including Goverdhan, have joined the TRS.
If not enough, 32 TDP legislators from the Telangana region on Wednesday submitted their resignations as members of assembly once again to press the demand for a separate Telangana state.
However, legislators from other political parties did not turn up for the “resignation mela” organised by the Telangana Telugu Desam Forum (TTDF). After waiting till 5 pm, they went to the speaker’s office and submitted resignations to the Assembly secretary.
Speaking to reporters later, TTDF convener E Dayakar Rao said: “We urged Congress and TRS MLAs to come along with us to submit resignations again. But there was no response from them. We submitted our resignations after waiting for Congress MLAs till the evening,” Dayakar Rao said.
TTDF members left in a convoy for Banaswada on Thursday to demand the TRS and the Congress to boycott the by-election there to send a strong signal to the Centre. The TDP has not fielded its candidate for the by-poll. Bansawada seat fell vacant after TDP MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy resigned and joined the TRS.
Low turnout for Tirupati festival
The ongoing Telangana agitation seems to have hit the Navaratri Brashmotsavam festival which began at Lord Venkateswara shrine in Tirupati on Thursday.
As against a daily inflow of 70,000 pilgrims and a floating population of over a lakh, there was hardly 30,000 crowd on the inaugural day. The authorities conceded that the strike had hit and disrupted the pilgrim flow from all 10 Telangana districts. “Many from border Maharashtra and Karnataka districts have also kept away anticipating trouble,” said a senior official of the TTD.
