Huge blow to Congress in AP

Dealing a severe blow to the main opposition Congress in Andhra Pradesh ahead of elections, senior party leader and former home minister M V Mysoora Reddy on Wednesday joined the Telugu Desam Party.

Accompanied by a large number of supporters from Cuddapah district, Reddy, who quit Congress early this month following differences with the state party leadership, called on TDP chief and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at his residence.

Reddy, a firebrand leader from the faction-ridden Rayalaseema region, was once counted among the bitter critics of the chief minister.

"Irreconcilable internal differences in Congress drove me out of the party. I have decided to join TDP as the party is focused on development," said Reddy, whose differences with the Congress Legislature Party leader and probable chief
ministerial candidate Y S Rajasekhar Reddy are well known.

A former Congress legislator Shivram Krishna Rao also joined the TDP along with Reddy whose decision is widely seen as an indication of political re-alignment in the highly volatile politics of Rayalaseema.

"I was humiliated by the state leadership for several years. I can not swallow the insults anymore. My decision to join TDP is not guided by any desire for positions of power," Reddy, who had a 25 year long stint in Congress, told PTI.