Two Rajya Sabha members of YSRCP quit, to join TDP

In a big shock to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), its MPs Mopidevi Venkataramana and Beeda Mastan Rao on Thursday resigned from the Rajya Sabha.  

The MPs met Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar in New Delhi and submitted their resignations. Both the leaders have also decided to quit the YSRCP and join the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Both Mopidevi and Mastan Rao said they want to work under the experienced leader and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for the state’s development. They recently met Naidu and expressed their willingness to join the party.

The TDP may re-nominate Mastan Rao to the Rajya Sabha while Mopidevi Venkata Ramana had reportedly agreed to join the TDP without any preconditions.

The TDP currently has no representation in the Rajya Sabha and the by-elections to be caused by their resignations will enable it to re-enter the upper House.

The TDP has 135 members in the 175-member Assembly while its allies, the Jana Sena and the BJP have 21 and 8 seats, respectively.

Mopidevi had served as a minister in the cabinets of Jagan Mohan Reddy and his father Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Though he was defeated in the 2019 Assembly election elections, Jagan made him an MLC and inducted him into his cabinet. He served as Minister for Excise and Prohibition till June 2020, when Jagan Mohan Reddy dropped Mopidevi from the Cabinet and sent him to the Rajya Sabha the same month.

In the recent elections, he had sought a YRCP ticket for his son from the Repalle Assembly constituency but this was denied.

Mastan Rao had quit the TDP to join the YSRCP in 2019, a few months after the latter stormed to power. In 2022, Jagan Mohan Reddy rewarded Mastan Rao with a Rajya Sabha seat. Mastan Rao was elected MLA on a TDP ticket from Kavali in 2009 but lost the election in 2014. He contested unsuccessfully from Nellore Lok Sabha constituency on a TDP ticket in 2019.

Meanwhile, reacting to the development TDP leader and MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao described the YSRCP as a sinking ship. He said his party had already made it clear that those who want to join it should first quit their posts.

The Rajya Sabha MPs resigned a day after Pothula Suneetha resigned from the YSRCP and her membership in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council. She is likely to join the TDP, a party she quit in 2020 to join the YSRCP.

In the by-election held in January 2021, the YSRCP fielded Suneetha as its candidate and she was elected unanimously under the MLA quota. Eluru Mayor Sheikh Noorjahan and her husband S.M.R. Pedababu quit the YSRCP and joined the TDP on Tuesday.

During the last two months, quite a few key leaders have quit the party and joined the TDP.