Former Union Minister Kishore Chandra Deo Quits TDP

Former Union minister Kishore Chandra Deo quit the Telugu Desam Party on Thursday. He said the one-point programme of the present NDA government appeared to be only to create vote banks by unleashing a "reign of terror by bigots".

New Delhi:Former Union minister and senior Telugu Desam Party leader Kishore Chandra Deo on Thursday quit the party following its decision to align with the BJP-led NDA. In a letter to TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, Deo said the one-point programme of the present NDA government appeared to be only to create vote banks by unleashing a "reign of terror by bigots".

"I am thoroughly disappointed and aghast at the manner in which you are pursuing an alliance with such disruptive forces. This is the worst case scenario that I have witnessed in the fifth decade of my political career," said Deo, a prominent tribal leader of Andhra Pradesh. He served as tribal affairs and panchayati raj minister in the UPA-II government of the then prime minister Manmohan Singh.

"I cannot barter my soul for crumbs of power. This is to inform you that I am forthwith resigning from the primary membership of the TDP," he said. Deo, a Congress leader, had joined the TDP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after facing a defeat in the 2014 polls, which were held just after the carving out of separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh.

A six-term parliamentarian, five terms in Lok Sabha and one in Rajya Sabha, Deo contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a TDP ticket from the Araku seat, which he lost. One of the key politicians from north coastal Andhra, Deo had also served as the minister of state for steel, mines and coal in the Charan Singh government (1979-80).