Won’t take TD defectors, says Jagan Mohan Reddy

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday declared that he would not encourage defections from the Telugu Desam. It was due to his generosity that the TD had got Opposition party status, he said.

Mr Reddy said in the Assembly during the election of Mr Tammineni Sitharam as the Speaker that if he had worked with the values of TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu, he would have admitted five legislators from the TD to the YSRC and denied it Opposition status.

Mr Reddy said he did not do so as he stood by certain values and ethics. He recalled that to justify his actions, Mr Naidu had at one point cited the example of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy defecting to the Indira Congress within days after getting elected on a Reddy Congress ticket in 1978.

“It’s my kind courtesy that you got Opposition status. Somebody had suggested that I pull five or six MLAs from your party so that you will lose Opposition status. I would have done the same if I had the same evil intentions as you have. But  I don’t encourage defections,” Mr Reddy said in remarks directed at Mr Naidu. He said some TD legislators were in touch with him.

“Even if someone wants to join our party they will have to first resign from their posts. Even if I induct somebody without the resignation, the Speaker can disqualify them. The Speaker system will not be the same as it used to be during the TD regime. We do value-based politics,” Mr Reddy said.