Two YSRCP Rajya Sabha MPs, Mopidevi Venkataramana and Beeda Masthan Rao, have resigned from the party and the membership of the upper house and are set to join the TDP signaling the opening of floodgates for the remaining MPs.
However, party chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s most trusted lieutenant, V Vijayasai Reddy, clarified that he would remain with the Opposition party with a total of 11 Rajya Sabha MPs from Andhra Pradesh. With the new additions, the TDP which doesn’t have a single member in the Rajya Sabha, can boast of at least two, at least for now. Parimal Nathwani, who is the corporate affairs director of the Reliance, is also one of the 11 RS MPs of the YSRCP whose tenure will expire in 2026.
Going by the political grapevine in Andhra Pradesh, apart from Venkataramana and Rao, who met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu a few days back, six more Rajya Sabha MPs are likely to jump ship. While four of them are considering joining the BJP, the rest are inclined to join the TDP.
It was a matter of time before the ruling parties, both at the state and at the Centre, went after Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s flock after his party managed to win only 11 MLA and four MP seats. In 2019, days after the TDP lost the Assembly elections, four of the six MPs of the party joined the BJP, including Y Sujana Chowdhury, TG Venkatesh, CM Ramesh, and G Rammohan Rao. All four were industrialists.
Beeda Masthan Rao quit the TDP and joined the YSRCP in 2019. His term would have ended in 2028 while Mopidevi, a fellow accused in the disproportionate asset case with YS Jagan, had tenure till 2028.