Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former minister Siddha Raghava Rao is going to join the bandwagon of the TDP leaders who have defected to the ruling YSR Congress party, apparently to safeguard his business interests.
On Wednesday, Siddha quit the primary membership of the TDP. He, along with his family members would be joining the YSR Congress party later in the day in the presence of party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The resignation of Siddha, who was considered to be a trusted lieutenant of the TDP till now, is a big blow to the party in Prakasam district and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu personally.
Siddha, who represented Darsi assembly constituency in the past, jumped into fray from Ongole parliamentary constituency in 2019 on the request of Naidu, after Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, who rejected the TDP ticket and jumped into the YSRC before the elections.
Siddha contested against Magunta and gave a tough fight, but lost the polls ultimately. Even after the loss in the elections, he has been continuing in the TDP playing active role.
However, with the YSRC government tightening the noose around the TDP leaders involved in granite mining and closing many of them, Siddha had no choice but to yield to the YSRC to protect his business interests.
Interestingly, it was only on Tuesday evening that the government restored his mining leases after he decided to take a plunge into the ruling party!
