Telangana: 50 TDP Leaders Including Former MLAs And Cabinet Ministers Join BJP

In what marks the first mass shift of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 50 TDP leaders from Telangana switched sides to on Monday (19 August), reports Livemint.

A host of former MLAs and cabinet ministers from TDP, along with a number of Congress leaders joined BJP. The development marks the saffron party moving towards replacing Congress as the principal opposition party in the state.

In total, the BJP has witnessed movement of 70 leaders into the party-fold, with as many as 20 per cent of them from the Indian National Congress. Also, the party is said to have added a huge 20,000-strong cadre at the ground level.

The BJP has been pressing for a greater depth and heft in Telangana politics. In 2018 Assembly elections, the party had won only one Assembly seat, while scoring a net vote share of seven per cent. Meanwhile, in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party widened its vote share to 20 per cent, while netting four constituencies.