With just around two weeks left for the polling for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, exodus of leaders from one party to another party continues to happen, making it one wonder whether such defections make any difference in the poll prospects.
Every day, there have been reports of Telugu Desam Party leaders jumping into the YSR Congress Party in the presence of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSRCP leaders jumping into the TDP in the presence of party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
Obviously, these reports are meant for impressing upon the voters that the leaders are showing interest in joining one party, as all is not well in the other party. It is essentially a sort of mind game between the two parties.
On Friday, senior TDP leader Yanamala Krishnudu, brother of former minister and veteran leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, resigned from the TDP, snapping his four-decades long association with the party.
Krishnudu sent his resignation letter to Naidu, saying he could not get any recognition in the party despite serving the party for so many years.
“I am going to join the YSRCP on Saturday on the invitation from Jagan Mohan Reddy. I am forced to quit the party as I was not able to tolerate the dirty politics in the TDP,” he said.
Krishnudu, who contested from Tuni assembly constituency twice – in 2014 and 2019, lost the elections. He expected the party ticket again, but Naidu gave the ticket to Yanamala’s daughter Divya. Shocked at this, Krishnudu decided to quit the party.
On the other hand, the YSRCP also lost its senior leader in Guntur district with former minister and party MLC Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad submitting his resignation from the party.
A two-time MLA from Tadikonda in 2004 and 2009, Dokka had joined the TDP after 2014 and became an MLC.
But he later quit the party and joined the YSRC in 2020 and was made an MLC again.
He was made in-charge of Tadikonda and was expecting the party ticket in the present assembly elections. But Jagan preferred Taneti Vanitha for the seat, forcing Dokka to quit.
Later in the evening, Dokka return to the TDP again in the presence of Naidu. But one wonders whether these last-minute defections would help either party in any manner.
