After suffering a crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh, the troubles of Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress are not coming to an end. On Thursday, two sitting YSR Rajya Sabha MPs, Beeda Mastan Rao and Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao resigned from Rajya Sabha membership after meeting Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. According to reports, their resignations have been accepted. Both are likely to join TDP, a strong ally of the ruling NDA at the Center, next week.
According to a News18 report, there are indications that Mastan Rao will be asked to return to the Rajya Sabha as a TDP candidate while Moppidevi will be asked to contest for the MLC post in the state assembly. Moppidevi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2020 and her term was till 2026. The TDP will retain the Rajya Sabha seat and would like to send an ex-serviceman to this seat. Mastan Rao, who came to the Rajya Sabha in 2022, has a term till 2028.
YSR is getting weaker
The resignation of two MPs appears to have weakened the YSR Congress. The YSRCP now has nine MPs instead of 11. The party, which will be out of power in the 2024 assembly elections, managed to win only four seats out of 25 in the Lok Sabha elections. The majority of the seats were won by the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP, which currently has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha, while the BJP won two seats. The Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena has two Lok Sabha MPs.
NDA crossed the majority mark in Rajya Sabha
After the recent victory in the Rajya Sabha elections, the NDA has crossed the majority mark in the Rajya Sabha. The NDA was successful in winning 10 out of 11 seats. The number of members in the Rajya Sabha is currently 114, which includes some nominated and independent members. With the re-election of two TDP MPs, the strength of the NDA will increase further.