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Congress Suffers A Setback In Andhra Pradesh As Reddy Brothers Join TDP

Congress Suffers A Setback In Andhra Pradesh As Reddy Brothers Join TDP
NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 20: Newly elected member of Parliament (MP)Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu poses after the BJP Parliamentary party meeting at Parliament House on May 20, 2014 in New Delhi, India. BJP prime minister-designate Narendra Modi broke down on Tuesday as he urged his party colleagues to dedicate themselves to serving the nation in an emotional speech on his first visit to parliament since winning elections. Modi said the recent election result had increased people's faith in democracy and there is a 'new hope' among people that this dispensation can fulfill their aspirations. Swearing-in of Narendra Modi government on May 26. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 20: Newly elected member of Parliament (MP)Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu poses after the BJP Parliamentary party meeting at Parliament House on May 20, 2014 in New Delhi, India. BJP prime minister-designate Narendra Modi broke down on Tuesday as he urged his party colleagues to dedicate themselves to serving the nation in an emotional speech on his first visit to parliament since winning elections. Modi said the recent election result had increased people's faith in democracy and there is a 'new hope' among people that this dispensation can fulfill their aspirations. Swearing-in of Narendra Modi government on May 26. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

VIJAYAWADA -- In a setback to the beleaguered Congress in Andhra Pradesh, former state minister and senior leader Anam Ramanarayana Reddy today joined the ruling TDP along with his brother and former MLA Anam Vivekananda Reddy.

TDP Chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu welcomed the brothers into the TDP fold here.

Ramanarayana Reddy was a senior minister during the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh from 2004-2014. He was the finance minister in the Cabinet of N Kiran Kumar Reddy ahead of the state bifurcation in 2014.

Ramanarayana Reddy and Vivekananda Reddy belong to the influential Anam family in Nellore district.

Their exit is seen as a major setback to Congress in Andhra Pradesh, where it does not even have representation in the Legislative Assembly.

Ramanarayana Reddy told reporters that their pleas as ministers to the Congress high command against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh fell on deaf ears and party leadership showed no signs of regret for its decision during the last 15 months.

The Reddy brothers, who have been staying aloof from active politics since last year's elections, said they chose to join the TDP in the interest of the state's development.

Naidu is the only leader with a vision who can steer on Andhra Pradesh in times of ongoing crisis where it does not even have its own capital city and adequate revenues, Vivekananda Reddy said.

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