4 TDP Rajya Sabha members join BJP

New Delhi: In a major jolt to former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, four out of the six Rajya Sabha members of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.

S Chowdary, C M Ramesh and T G Venkatesh joined the saffron party in presence of party’s working president JP Nadda at the party headquarters here this evening. Garikapati Mohan Rao will be formally joining the party later as he was unwell.

They also met Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu today to tender their resignation from the TDP. Earlier in the day, the leaders passed a resolution to merge Legislature Party of TDP in Rajya Sabha with BJP.

BJP’s working president J P Nadda and leader of the BJP in Rajya Sabha Thawarchand Gehlot also met Naidu and submitted a proposal from BJP President Amit Shah saying the party has no objection to the merger of the TDP Legislature party with the BJP.

“Four Rajya Sabha TDP MPs who have joined BJP are greatly inspired by the way India has progressed under the dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi and the way BJP has grown leaps and bounds under the organisational leadership of Amit Shah,” said BJP working president JP Nadda

The development will boost to the saffron party in the upper house as the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have a majority there yet.

The Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members and the BJP is the single largest party with 71 MPs.

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