Six months after quitting YSRCP, MLC Rajasekhar to join TDP

Amaravati, Sep 19 A member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council, Marri Rajasekhar, who quit the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in March, has decided to join the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Rajasekhar will be formally admitted into the TDP by party president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday evening.

On the last day of the previous legislature session in March, Rajasekhar had announced his resignation from both YSRCP and the Legislative Council.

He had requested Council Chairman Koyye Moshenu Raju to accept his resignation immediately. However, his resignation from the Council has not yet been accepted.

Rajasekhar was elected to the Legislative Council through the MLA quota in 2023 and has four years left for his term to end.

He was the fifth MLC to quit YSRCP since the party lost power to the TDP-led NDA last year.

Jayamangala Venkataramana, Pothula Sunitha, Balli Kalyan Chakravarthy and Karri Padmashree are the other MLCs who have quit YSRCP

Hailing from Guntur district, Rajasekhar was elected to the Assembly from Chilakaluripet in 2004 as an independent candidate, defeating TDP’s Prattipati Pulla Rao by a wafer-thin majority of 212 votes. He later joined the Congress party but lost to Pulla Rao from the same constituency in the 2009 elections. He contested the 2014 Assembly elections as YSRCP candidate but suffered defeat once again at the hands of Pulla Rao.

In 2019, the YSRCP fielded Vidadala Rajani from Chilakaluripet constituency. She was elected with a huge majority and became a minister in Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Cabinet.

The YSRCP shifted Rajani to the Guntur West constituency in the 2024 elections, which she lost.

Rajasekhar was unhappy over the appointment of former Minister Vidadala Rajini as the party’s in-charge for Chilakaluripet even after her defeat in last year’s election.

While leaving YSRCP, he had alleged that he was not given due recognition in the party. He also accused the party president and former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy of not keeping his promises.

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