As expected, YSR Congress party MP from Kurnool Butta Renuka informally joined the Telugu Desam Party on Tuesday in the presence of party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada.
Renuka, however, told media that she had not officially joined the TDP and for the time being, she was extending her support to the Chandrababu Naidu government, as she was very much impressed by the developmental programmes of the chief minister.
“I have come and met Naidu garu, only to put an end to the speculations that I am joining the TDP,” she said.
Ironically, Renuka was suspended from the YSR Congress party on Monday evening itself.
“I don’t know why I was suspended and I don’t have so much political experience to analyse the reasons. Anyway, I wholeheartedly worked for the YSR Congress party all these years, notwithstanding the differences with my husband who has been in the TDP for a long time,” she said.
Sources said Renuka did not join the TDP officially, as it was not an auspicious day on Tuesday. In the meantime, Naidu is leaving on a foreign tour in the evening and so, her formal entry into the TDP would take some more time.
Along with Renuka, YSRCP Central Committee member and former MLA Kothakota Prakash Reddy is also joining the TDP.
A native of the Yemmiganur constituency in Kurnool district, Renuka made her political entry in 2014 and entered the 16th Lok Sabha.
Soon after the outcome, her husband Butta Neelakantham, Chairman and Managing Director of Butta Group, joined the TDP but stayed away from the ruling party programmes.
