The BC leader from Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in Guntur district, Ganji Chiranjeevi, who left the opposition TDP two weeks ago, had finally landed on Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s lap on Monday. The BC leader joined the ruling YSR Congress at Jagan Mohan Reddy’s camp office.

Chiranjeevi was backed by sitting MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, local MLC and former minister Murugudu Hanumantha Rao and Kurnool MP, Dr Sanjeev Kumar, when he met the chief minister and joined the YSR Congress.

Chiranjeevi contested from the Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in the 2014 general elections on TDP ticket and lost the seat to Alla Ramakrishna Reddy of the YSR Congress by the lowest margin of 12 votes. It was the lowest margin in the 2014 general election.

However, Chiranjeevi was denied the party ticket in the 2019 general elections as Lokesh laid his hands on this segment, hoping that it would be a cakewalk for him to beat the 12 votes. Though Chiranjeevi was upset, the TDP leadership had accommodated him in the subsequent municipal elections. He was finally made the chairman of the Mangalagiri Municipality.

Ahead of the 2024 general elections, with Lokesh deciding to contest again from Mangalagiri, Chiranjeevi left the party early this month. He then moved to the ruling party beginning his new innings.

The TDP had earlier lost its senior leader, Murugudu Hanumantha Rao, a two-time Congress MLA, who joined the TDP before the 2009 general elections as he was denied the party ticket. Hanumantha Rao won in 1989 and 2004 elections. He had left the TDP after the 2019 elections and subsequently became MLC.