Former AP minister Thota Narasimham joins TDP

HYDERABAD: Former minister Thota Narasimham today joined the Telugu Desam Party walking out of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

Thota, a Kapu leader from East Godavari district, joined the yellow brigade in the presence of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

He is the sixth minister of the erstwhile Kiran KumarReddy Cabinet from Seemaandhra region to have quit the Congress in recent days.

About two dozen Congress MLAs from Seemaandhra have also jumped over to the TDP in recent days, protesting the bifurcation of the state.

Another former colleague of Kiran, D L Ravindra Reddy of Kadapa district, also met Chandrababu here today.

Ravindra Reddy said he would be formally joining the TDP at the Praja Garjana rally in Kadapa on the 25th.

The former ministers said only Chandrababu has the 'vision' and the ability to develop (residuary) Andhra Pradesh into a golden state.

Meanwhile, the senior-most Congress legislator J C Diwakar Reddy of Anantapuram district is also set to join the TDP.

Another former minister S Sailajanath, who has been appointed the vice-president of Kiran Kumar's new party Jai Samaikyaandhra, is now having second thoughts and is expected to switch over to the TDP.