Senior YSR Congress party leader and former MLA from Kamalapuram in YSR Kadapa district G Veerashiva Reddy has decided to resign from the party and join the Telugu Desam Party.
On Wednesday, Veerashiva Reddy met TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh and felicitated him with a shawl. He said he would join the TDP along with his followers at an appropriate muhurtham.
The three-time former MLA said he had discussed the present political situation in the state and Kadapa district with Lokesh.
“I am not interested in contesting as an MLA in the next assembly elections. I will work for the victory of the TDP candidate in Kamalapuram,” he said.
Veerashiva Reddy, who was once considered a close follower of former home minister and ex-MP M V Mysoora Reddy, had been with the Congress party for a long time. He won the assembly elections thrice from Kamalapuram.
After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Veerashiva Reddy was associated with former Chief Minister and Jai Samaikyandhra Party president N Kiran Kumar Reddy for some time, but later joined the TDP.
Then, too, he said he was not aspiring for the TDP ticket in the assembly elections, but his aim was to defeat YSR Congress party. He claimed that only Naidu can develop residual Andhra Pradesh.
"For the development of the state, I am joining TDP," he then said.
However, by 2019, Veerashiva Reddy changed his mind sensing that the TDP was on the way out. So he quickly jumped into the YSRC but by that time, the YSRC had already fielded Ravindranath Reddy as the candidate from Kamalapuram.
He extended support to the YSRCP candidate in Kamalapuram and also to party’s MP candidate Y S Avinash Reddy from Kadapa. But after coming to power, Veerashiva Reddy felt that chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had completely ignored him.
For the last couple of years, a sulking Veerashiva Reddy had been lying low and now that the TDP appears to be getting some public support, he thought it is ideal time to jump into the yellow party.
