HYDERABAD: If GHMC election debacle has shaken the Telugu Desam Party, the tremors are being felt among the rank and file of the party. Setting off fears that Telangana is an impregnable fortress for TTDP, two of its senior leaders - party floor leader in Assembly Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Rangareddy unit president T Prakash Goud - joined the TRS giving a rude jolt to the yellow brigade.
With the exit of two more MLAs, the strength of TTDP in the Assembly has dropped to six. The TTDP had won 15 seats in Telangana in 2014 elections and within 18 months more than half of the elected members have defected to the pink party. On Tuesday, party’s Qutbullapur MLA KP Vivekananda Goud quit the party to join TRS.
Dayakar Rao’s exit is seen as the death knell for the party in Telangana but the party’s working president A Revanth Reddy put up a brave face and said he will rebuild the party with the support of the cadre.
Meanwhile TDP state leadership suspened Errabelli Dayakar Rao, T Prakash Goud and Qutbullapur MLA KP Vivekananda Goud from the party on Wednesday.
Irrigation minister T Harish Rao, who was in Narayankhed along with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to attend a campaign meeting there, drove down to the New MLA Quarters in Hyderabad where he met the two TDP MLAs.
The discussions went on for nearly an hour and all the three then proceeded to the Camp Office of the Chief Minister where Dayakar Rao and Prakash Goud were welcomed by KCR by offering a pink ‘kanduva.’
Emerging from the camp office, Dayakar Rao said he was leaving the TDP with a heavy heart. “I was with the TDP for 35 years and was one of the nine members who designed the party flag,” he said adding that the party is not in a position to make a resurgence.
“After the Warangal byelection result, we tried to revive the party for GHMC elections. But, we could not. People are with the TRS. The decision to leave the party is a difficult one,” Dayakar Rao said. He further said he still have utmost respect for TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
TTDP working president A Revanth Reddy, a known detractor of Dayakar Rao, said that it was waiting to happen. “It is just like two secret friends meeting openly,” he said to prove his point that Dayakar Rao hade been in touch with TRS and CM KCR for long and had made attempts to weaken the TDP.
“All those MLAs, who left the party, be it Teegala Krishna Reddy, Ch Dharma Reddy or Madhavaram Krishna Rao, openly said that it was Dayakar Rao, who had facilitated their meeting with the TRS leaders,” he alleged.
Revanth Reddy also said the latest episode clearly shows that there is a clear unification of castes in Telangana. “They want to bring ‘Dorala Rajyam’ in the state,” he said.
Revanth said defection of MLAs will not weaken TDP and he will bring back the past glory to the party with cadre’s support.