NEW DELHI/VIJAYAWADA: Staging a political coup against friend-turned-foe Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the BJP ensnared four of its six Rajya Sabha members on Thursday to try to build its base in Andhra Pradesh, where it wants to do a West Bengal encore.
Setting up a political thriller, TDP’s Rajya Sabha legislature party met in the morning after back-channel talks with key BJP leaders and adopted a resolution to merge with the saffron outfit.
With the approval of BJP chief Amit Shah, its legislature party in the Rajya Sabha adopted a parallel resolution approving the merger, to meet procedural requirements. In the evening, BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda inducted three of the defectors - Y S Chowdary, C M Ramesh and T G Venkatesh - into the party. The fourth MP GM Rao from Telangana twisted his ankle in Parliament during the flurry of meetings and, couldn’t join his colleagues at the BJP HQ.
He, however, signed the resolution submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on merger of the legislature party with the saffron party. “They (joining MPs) are all leaders with bases in Andhra Pradesh. We would seek to grow in Andhra Pradesh with our strength,” said J P Nadda after inducting the MPs, while adding that BJP believes in politics of inclusiveness.
Chowdary claimed he was attracted to the BJP after seeing the mood of the nation and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We have chosen to cooperate for the development of Andhra Pradesh in the spirit of the AP Reorganisation Act in place of the politics of confrontation,” Chowdary added. The political crisis in the TDP unfolded at a time when TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu was holidaying in London.
In their resolution, the MPs said they had decided to merge with the BJP because of ‘impeccable leadership’ and ‘development policies’ of Prime Minister Modi. “After considerable deliberations, it has been resolved to merge the legislature party of the TDP with the BJP with immediate effect under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India,” said the resolution. These leaders met Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu and submitted the resolution.
They were accompanied by BJP working president J P Nadda. The development will help the BJP in bolstering its position in the Upper House as the numbers to pass several key bills in the Rajya Sabha elude the saffron party.
The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP was the single largest party with 71 MPs and the number will now be 75. Moreover, with four of six TDP MPs breaking away from their party, it will meet the legal requirement of the anti-defection law, which mandates the support of at least two-third members for a split to be recognised in Parliament.
Meanwhile, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu issued a statement saying, “We fought with BJP only for Special Category Status & state’s interests. We sacrificed Central Ministers for Special Status, condemn attempts of BJP to weaken TDP. Crisis is not new to the party. Leaders & cadre have nothing to be nervous about.”
This is indeed a crisis, and there is no denying that it will further deflate the morale of the TDP, coming as it does, close on the heels of the party’s humiliating loss in the recent Assembly elections. It also adds to the growing fear in TDP circles that the party is facing an existential crisis.
But the exit of the MPs wasn’t a surprise and in fact, senior TDP leaders TNIE spoke to pointed at the ‘compelling reasons for these loyalists’ to ditch the party.
“It has been going on for a week. They have their own troubles,” Kalava Srinivasulu, senior TDP leader, observed. By troubles, he meant the business interests of Sujana Chowdary, CM Ramesh and TG Venkatesh. Sujana, for instance, is under the scanner of the CBI and the Enforcement Director (ED) for a couple of years.
The CBI has registered three FIRs against the Chennai-based Best & Crompton Engineering Projects Ltd (BCEPL) part of the Sujana group of companies owned by the MP for allegedly defrauding the Corporation Bank, Central Bank of India and the Andhra Bank by up to Rs 364 crore. Based on the FIRs, the ED raided his offices and residences and came out with a shocking note that it had unearthed a bank fraud of over Rs 6,000 crore by 120 shell companies floated by Sujana’s group.
Though the MP claims he had distanced himself from the companies in 2010 itself, the ED maintains he is the de facto chairman of the group. He was summoned by the CBI as recently as June 1 following yet another raid on his offices and residences.
MP CM Ramesh runs the Rithwik Projects Private Ltd which reportedly has a turnover of around Rs 1,000 crore. In October last, the income tax department raided the offices of the company and his properties in Hyderabad and Kadapa.
It found profits of the company doubled in 2015-2016 as it secured several lucrative infrastructure contracts after the TDP came to power in 2014. Ramesh was raided again in the run-up to the elections.
The businessmen-turned-MPs do not have an electoral base in Andhra contrary to the BJP working president’s hopes. Except for two-time MLA TG Venkatesh, who lost in the 2014 election from Kurnool Lok Sabha constituency, the others have never contested direct elections.