Named Chandrababu Naidu's Party Candidate, With YSR Congress Hours Later

Adala Prabhakar Reddy joined the YSRC in the presence of party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy

Hours after being named as the party candidate for the Nellore (Rural) assembly seat, former minister Adala Prabhakar Reddy shocked the ruling TDP by switching over to the opposition YSR Congress on Saturday.

Mr Reddy joined the YSRC in the presence of party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

"I regret not having joined YSRC all these days. My aim is to make Jagan the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh," Mr Reddy said on the occasion.

Mr Reddy remained incommunicado since Thursday night when his candidature for the Nellore (Rural) seat was announced along with 125 others, by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

He was supposed to join the YSRC on Friday itself, but a tragedy in Jagan's family delayed the event.

The YSRC chief's uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy was on Friday found dead under suspicious circumstances at his home in Pulivendula town in Kadapa district.

Following preliminary probe, the police said that the former state minister and former MP, who was the brother of late former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was murdered.

Meanwhile, another TDP candidate Thota Trimurtulu from Ramachandrapuram in East Godavari district is also said to be in talks with the YSRC.

He is a sitting MLA of the TDP and has been re-nominated for the April 11 election.

On the other hand, Kurnool MP Butta Renuka who defected to the TDP in 2017 from the YSRC is also set to return to her parent party.

Ms Renuka was denied the Kurnool Lok Sabha seat as former Union Minister Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy joined the TDP from the Congress.

TDP also denied Ms Renuka the Yemmiganuru Assembly ticket, leaving her sulking.

Former MP Vanga Geeta from East Godavari district too joined the YSRC this afternoon.

She had earlier been with the TDP, erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party and later the Congress.

Since 2014, however, she remained an ''independent''.