The defection of two newly-elected YSR Congress party MPs – Kurnool MP Butta Renuka and Nandyal MP S P Y Reddy – into the Telugu Desam Party has taken political observers by a big surprise.
It has raised an imminent question as to why TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu is encouraging defections from YSR Congress party at this stage, even before he took over as the Chief Minister of the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh.
There is no hurry as such, as Naidu has enough numbers to dictate terms to the Opposition party in the Assembly and steer the wheel at the Centre, thanks to his proximity with Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi.
Apparently, the TDP president has decided to strike the iron when it is hot. Even as YSR Congress party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is licking his wounds following the drubbing in the elections in Seemandhra, Naidu is planning to hit him below the belt even before he could recover from the shock of the defeat by encouraging defections.
The strategy of Naidu is said to be attracting as many MPs and MLAs from the YSR Congress party as possible, before the latter gets the recognized political party status from the Election Commission.
Once the Jagan party gets the status, the defectors would invoke disqualification under the Anti-Defection law. That is why Naidu is in such a hurry to weaken the Jagan party.
