Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy is considered a strongman in Kurnool district.
Congress leader Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy is all set to leave the grand-old party join Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party. The senior leader's family has had a long association with the Congress party.
The son of Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy is said to have been disappointed after Congress in charge for Andhra Pradesh, Oommen Chandy, announced that the Congress would contest the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections without an alliance with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh.
Surya Prakash Reddy, considered a strongman in Kurnool district, had a dinner meeting with Chandrababu Naidu in Amaravati today. A formal announcement is awaited.
For the TDP, a strong Reddy leader coming on board would be a plus at a time when there are some differences being reported between a junior Reddy minister from the district with the party leadership.
In 2014, the Congress had drawn a blank in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. But the party believes that the situation had now changed and people of Andhra Pradesh have trust Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's promise to give special category status to the state.
Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh State on June 2, 2014.
"The nation and the prime minister owe something to the people of Andhra Pradesh. The Centre owes the special category status (SCS) to AP. It was promised (by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2014) but was not delivered (by current Prime Minister Narendra Modi)...," Mr Gandhi said in Andhra Pradesh.