Hyderabad: In the intensifying tug of war between the ruling Telugu Desam party and main opposition YSR Congress party, the former has suffered a setback with one of its MLAs defecting to the YSRCP.

M Malikarjuna Reddy, TDP MLA from Rajampet in Kadapa district, on Tuesday formally joined the YSRCP hours after he was suspended by the TDP President and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on charges of indulging in anti-party activities.

Earlier, Naidu lashed out at Reddy for harming the interest of the party and said that he was not qualified to remain in TDP.

“The party got him elected to assembly and made him the government whip in the assembly but he worked against the party,” Naidu said.

He expressed confidence that Reddy’s disloyalty will not make any difference to them and the TDP will emerge victorious not only in Rajampet but also in the entire Kadapa district.

As Kadapa was the home district of YSRCP President Jaganmohan Reddy, the TDP is taking it as a prestige issue to emerge winner there.